An Unwilling Hero
by Sniperk
Summary: What happens when a hero of another story gets mixed up in the shenanigans of a pervert and his crew?
1. An Unwilling Traveler

A/N: Something for anyone who'll be reading this story to keep in mind at all times. Shirou in this story is an unreliable narrator, so not everything he narrates is completely correct, be it from the stand point of the Nasuverse lore or the DxD lore. He's also prone to make assumptions when he shouldn't, even when he himself thinks he isn't making them.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **An Unwilling Traveler**

* * *

Kuoh Academy, where I had enrolled as a third year, after a series of events that involved the Clock Tower, Rin, the Second Magic and a Mystic Code said to use a form of the Fifth Magic that she received for helping out The Blue at some point in the past. After Zelretch had taken her under his wing, to the horror of the Mage Association, especially the Lords at the Clock Tower, and Rin had enlisted me as a test subject without leaving me enough time to bolt out the door.

After all the pretty lights disappeared and I could finally get my bearings back, I realized pretty easily that I wasn't inside my erstwhile girlfriend's and mine's shared workshop anymore. I wasn't inside anything anymore to be exact. For a second I almost thought that she had destroyed everything that wasn't inside the Formalcraft circle that I was in, but I cast that thought away immediately since instead of destruction, all around me there was a forest. Looking down, I realized that the Formalcraft circle wasn't there anymore also, only grass that was overgrown almost to my knees.

After looking at my surroundings for a few minutes I took a few steps in the direction where my house was supposed to be but didn't find anything there. To my horror, even the Bounded Field around my house wasn't there anymore. I picked a direction and started walking, my nerves on edge, trying to find something about where I was, when I realized that maybe Rin had sent me to a parallel universe. That was the domain of the Second Magic, after all. What's worse, she may have sent me to a parallel universe where at the very least my house didn't exist. But the truth was worse than that, not only my house didn't exist anymore. The entire city didn't exist anymore. At least, not the Fuyuki City that I knew of. After walking for what seemed like forever but in reality maybe took only a few minutes, I came to a fence with a street on the other side.

And a different city as well. I had jumped over the fence and started walking around. Long story short, I came to the conclusion that the landmarks around the city, correction, the 'natural' landmarks of Fuyuki City, the rivers, mountains, depressions and so on, were the same, but the streets, buildings and other man-made structures were completely different. Another thing that I came to realize chagrined me to end. My body was back to my teen years. Externally, I was a highschool aged kid again.

After mounting a vigil during the first week over the place were I had appeared on what I now know was a private property, I came to the conclusion that wherever Rin had sent me, she didn't know how to reverse the process or worse. I really didn't want to think about the worst case scenarios, so I left it at that.

After a whole week without taking a shower, or eating anything other than what I could forage from the forest I was in, I made my way back to civilization. I had few options at this point. First, I needed information, but who knew if in this dimension the Clock Tower existed, or if Magecraft itself existed. I knew my Magecraft worked better here, the levels of prana in the air were saturated, so I imagined that maybe the Age of the Gods hadn't ended here yet, or at least, the Age of the Heroes. And if it hadn't ended, with my luck, there was good chance that I would come across some jerkass God who would try and make me into his plaything.

But after living on the streets for a few days, I came to realize that there wasn't much supernatural activity around the world. The newspapers didn't talk about dragons and other mythological beasts, the streets weren't covered with creatures that weren't human. There were a few that I couldn't pinpoint the exact nature, but they seemingly lived as humans. I even trailed one or two of these creatures, but after a few hours, found nothing out of the ordinary. They were simply living as humans do.

With my primary fear assuaged somewhat, I started to try and look for work, but without identification, no one wanted to hire a highschooler that reeked of sweat. Until one day I was sitting on a park thinking what would I do for dinner and heard a cry for help.

Without thinking I jumped up and ran in the direction of the cry and found a girl about to be molested by a man wearing a sky mask. I kicked the guy from the girl, Reinforced my fist and punched him in the face. He fell against a tree and I pulled a few dozen blueprints in my mind of swords and aimed all of them at the guy, without tracing them yet. I knew there were creatures that I didn't know roaming around this city, but this wasn't one of them, or at least, this signature was new. It wasn't just a human. It could be a magus, but if it was, it was worse at it than me. The man crumpled down without moving. So without turning around I said to the girl to call the Police, that I would stay and keep an eye on the man.

A few minutes later, I was the one that was almost arrested by the cops, until the girl that I rescued came to my rescue this time, saying that I was the one who saved her. The cops wanted a statement from me, and I accompanied them without thinking. I only realized my blunder when they asked my name and ID. I had no identification. I was homeless. And Japan isn't a very kind place for homeless people.

End result? I was on a cell.

It was a blessing in disguise, since for the first time in the few weeks I had been here, I could take a decent shower, wear clean clothes and had a decent meal. Prison food wasn't the most pleasant but at least it wasn't something that I had picked from trash cans or foraged in the forest.

The next day came the second break I had because of that act. A girl that I had never seen before appeared on the Police Station to bail me out. The story she told the officers was that I was her brother, had amnesia and had disappeared from the house. Worse, she actually had documents that proved my supposed identity and my medical records. It even had my photo on it, I think.

The change of clothes she brought me also gave credence for the officers that I was what she was claiming me to be, and I had no way of proving myself against it. The clothes fitted perfectly, even the shoes, and only after wearing it, I realized that they were a male uniform that I had seen around the city, the same ones that the girl was wearing too, but I didn't know which school it belonged to at the time.

The girl, that introduced herself as Himejima Akeno, had long black hair tied on a ponytail that reached down almost to her ankles, violet eyes and... lets just say that it was hard to notice the color of her eyes when just below her neckline there was a bulge too great to not give her backpains, and leave it at that. The other thing that was apparent, was that the girl was not entirely human, but I couldn't place her in any category that I was accostumed to. She wasn't a Dead Apostle, at least of that I was sure of. Her signature had a tint of holy inside a whole lot of dark energy, but it didn't quite reach demonic level. It was mind boggling to try and decypher what she was.

After she bailed me out, she directed me to a honest to Akasha limousine and signaled for me to enter it. Since we were still in front of the Police Station, I couldn't deny her over the risk of the Officers hearing, so I entered it. After my 'sister' entered behind me and closed the door, her features that until that point was almost set on a comforting smile, turned cold and calculating and that set me on edge. Immediately my mind began to trace the best weapons to use in close quarters that was the limo, but she didn't made any move or said anything, only studying me. Then after she seemed satisfied with what she saw, the smile came back.

"Good morning. I'm Himejima Akeno." The girl said with a small bow of her head. "As you must have figure it out by now, I'm not your real sister, but there's someone who wants to talk with you, and the location where you were at the moment prevented her from doing so."

Her words were delivered in a pleasant, if slightly edgy, tone. So I answered in kind. "Emiya Shirou. Thank you for bailing me out. If you know that I'm not your brother, then how-"

She cut me off before I could continue. "As I said, someone wants to talk with you, and I was the only one available to take you to her. Please, direct all the questions to her when we arrive."

I only nodded at the girl, and she closed her eyes, seemingly dismissing my presence. With nothing else to do, I changed my attention to outside, looking for landmarks so that I could know where we were going.

I noticed that the incline that we were going up was the same that would house the Ryuudou Temple in Fuyuki City, but as I came to realize during the last few days, the name of this city was Kuoh Town. Not really a problem, since some parallel worlds had different names for cities in the same region, but they usually had the same layout, if only barely. At least, that was what Rin said. I had never traveled between different worlds, so maybe Rin was the one who only had traveled to parallel worlds that were similar, or maybe Zelretch had only taken her to such worlds.

Either way, at that moment, I was in front of where was supposed to be the Ryuudou Temple, but it was actually an school. Kuoh Academy. The girl, Himejima, climbed down before me and gestured for me to come with her. It was still early, and from the clocktower I could read that it wasn't even seven in the morning yet. She entered the school grounds without waiting for me, so I took the three steps that would bring me to the place as well, only to pause again when I crossed a Bounded Field. I stopped immediately.

My nerves were on edge again. One of two scenarios were the most likely in this situation. One, the Second Owner or another powerful Magus had discovered me, and had bailed me out so I could explain myself to him. It was a likely scenario, since the girl that was leading him seemed to be not human, she could be a familiar, or a Servant. That was enough to get me nervous. A Magi powerful enough to command a familiar that could take human form wasn't someone that I wanted to be on bad terms with. The other scenario was that I had invaded the lair of a powerfull being, a Dead Apostle, an Elemental, or something worse. Now that I had already crossed the threshold of the Bounded Field, there was no turning back.

The girl continued to walk, seemingly without noticing that I had hitched my step. The number of blueprints of weapons that I had brought to the forefront of my mind doubled. One of the things that I realized was that in this world, I could hold my blueprints and my traced weapons for far longer than normal. They didn't disappear without I activelly ordering them to. The knife I traced as a test at the beginning of the first week I was here, continued existing for almost that entire week and only disappeared when I willed it to. I still don't know if they would disappear on their own after a set amount of time, but for now, I knew that a simple blade without mystical properties could hold for at least a week without disappearing on me.

I caught up to her and continued to walk two steps back and one step left from her. She brought me around the main buildings the place had, and into the woods on the back. When we crossed the treeline, we crossed another Bounded Field. I still didn't had enough information, but a second line of defense usually meant that there was a Magus workshop there. If that was good or bad, it remained to be seen. So far the girl hadn't acknowledged anything about Magecraft, or about me, at all.

After a while we reached a white three story building, with a clocktower and a black roof. Himejima entered the building and signaled for me to follow and that's when I noticed the third Bounded Field. This is getting ridiculuous. What kind of research required three boundary fields. Or worse, what kind of Magus created three fields that, as far as I could identify, only served to alert against intruders. I followed the girl to the second floor of the building and into a room, after she knocked on it two times and entered without waiting for anyone to answer.

When I entered the room my face almost fell in disbelief. Not because of the decoration, or the Formalcraft circle in the corner, or the honest to Akasha shower cubicle on the other corner. No, there's another Bounded Field in the room. This had just jumped from ridiculous to downright insane. Who in their right mind sets up so many alarm fields, without primary defenses on them?

Some of the dismay I was feeling must have appeared on my face, because a cough from my right made me realize that the room wasn't empty and there was someone else sitting behind a desk on the other side of the room. Well, someone was putting lightly. The girl sitting there was downright beautiful, as in a otherwordly kind. She clearly wasn't human, my senses screamed as much, but she was still beautiful, with crimson hair and blue eyes, framed behind glasses. She was holding a stack of papers before lifting her head and looking at us.

"Good morning, Buchou." Himejima said, from my side. "Allow me to introduce Emiya Shirou. He was the one who dealt with our little problem last night."

"Good morning. Emiya Shirou." I said bowing to the girl. "Himejima-san said that someone wanted to talk with me, and refused to answer any questions. May I presume that someone is you?"

The crismon haired girl looked at me for a few moments, before smiling and nodding her head. "Rias Gremory. Nice to meet you, Emiya Shirou. Can I call you Shirou?" She asked, still smiling.

I nodded, not too sure what else to do. She didn't seem like she would attack me for now at least, but I still held the blueprints I had pretraced in my mind. "No problem. It's easier for me as well."

"Very well, Shrirou. I imagine you have some questions, but please, take a seat." She turned to the black haired girl. "Akeno, could you prepare us some tea?" The girl nodded and started to move inside the room in another direction from where the crimson haired was signaling for me to sit.

The way the couches where designed seemed to be better placed on a museum or an antique store, but they were well preserved. "Thank you, Rias-san."

"Please, just Rias is fine." She said and sat in front of me, on the couch on the other side of the center table. If I thought that Himejima had a bustline that could cause back pains, this girl had one that clearly defied the laws of gravity, but since she wasn't human, of that at least I was certain, I could ignore that.

After making myself more comfortable, I looked at her again. "Then, Rias, could you explain to me what is going on? Himejima-san said that I was her brother or some sort to take me out of the station, but we both know that wasn't true."

"Yes." The girl removed her glasses, folded them and put them on the table between us. If I was slightly less on edge, I would have blushed on the way her bossom bounced with the action. "Yesterday you helped a girl that was being molested by a pervert in the middle of the park." I only nodded signaling for her to continue. "Well, the girl in question was Akeno. She was the bait for us to catch that creature that had started hunting around the city."

I frowned. Why use a girl as bait to catch a pervert? Even after all my time around countless powerful women, be it during the Grail War or after, I still had some compunctions about putting women in unnecessary danger. Then I remembered that the girl in question wasn't completely human and nodded.

"Well, your... timely... intervention prevented us from catching that beast, but since you manage to deal with it, we tought that at least congratulations were in order." Himejima put a tea cup for me and another for the redhead, before sitting herself to her left.

"It was what any normal person would do." It was all I said.

"Yes. Any 'normal' person would do that, wouldn't they?" Himejima said, stressing the word 'normal' a little too much.

I wasn't going to take that bait. Either these two hadn't realized that I already knew that they weren't human, or they did and were playing games. "Yes. When you hear a cry for help, are you going to simply ignore it?"

"Not everyone would try and do something about it, though." The black haired pointed out.

I scratched the back of my head, trying to appear humble. "As you said. Not everyone, but there always a chance that somebody would." Then looked at her in the eyes. "Otherwise, why would you cry for help?"

"Good point." Himejima conceded.

"What I don't get it is, why are you going after perverts and not the Police?" I asked, not sure anymore if what I kicked last night even was a pervert or some sort of demon anymore. Things were so frantic that I didn't even realize that Himejima was the girl I had 'saved', after all. Either that, or I was more debilitated than I imagined.

Both girls looked at each other, Rias clearly uncomfortable, while Himejima wore a serene smile. "Let's just say that that particular pervert was on our watch list."

"Watch list? What are you, some kind of vigilante group of teenagers?" I had to ask. If that... creature... last night wasn't just a random pervert. These two had to have some connection with him, but weren't revealing just yet.

"Not... quite." Rias said after a few moments. "I can't say anymore because we don't know what are your allegiances, but we couldn't just leave the person who helped us to be imprisoned, so we took the liberty of releasing you and bringing you here." I nodded. Just for the fact that they somehow had my measurements and my photo, and a lot of documents to prove their point to bail me out of prison told me they had a lot of connections inside the city. But since they were not sure if they could trust me, they too didn't know if I was aware of Magecraft or if I was an Esper, a natural in using some kinds of Magecraft without realizing. "Let me ask you. Are you a Stray?"

"Stray?" I frowned, rolling the word in my head. Stray usually meant someone lost, homeless, but few people would put it like that. "I guess I am. I haven't had a roof over my head in almost a month."

The smile on Rias' face that started to grow wider when I said I was a stray, seemed strain when I finished my sentence, but she still held it in place. Maybe stray in this dimension meant something that I wasn't aware of. I didn't know what so I kept it for the definition on the dictionary. "I see..." It was all she said, before sighing. "Well, how old are you?" She changed topics.

"I'm..." I stopped almost saying my real age. They wouldn't believe me, after all, my body was that of a teenager now, so I lied. "Nineteen."

"And you aren't going to school because...?" Himejima asked, stretching the end of the sentence. They were probing for answers that weren't actually all that damning for me, so I had no real reason to lie to them, aside from my age. I took a deep breath. Even if these questions were inoquous in and of themselves, they weren't the questions I expected. I had to play this out as if I was in enemy territory being interrogated. Which wasn't that far off from the truth.

At least my interrogators were pleasing to look at. I took the teacup that was placed in front of me and had been ignored until that point. At the same moment that I focused my Structural Analysis on it to discover the composition of the tea, just to make sure it wasn't any type of truth serum, a knock came from the door.

My head immediatelly swivelled to it, and Rias voice came a moment later. "Come in." At least the interruption seemed to mask my intention of analysing the contents of the cup. Structural Analysis was something that I did uncounsciouly nowadays, without the need to focus, but when I wanted to read something completely, I still needed to concentrate a little. The only things that I could analyse completely without concentration were bladed weapons, but that was a side effect of my Reality Marble. The door opened to reveal two people, one white haired petite girl and a platinum blonde boy, just behind her.

The girl took one look at me, then looked at Rias, then stepped inside without as much as a greeting. The boy on the other hand bowed to the redhead. "Good morning, Buchou."

Both of them entered the room, the girl going to the same corner Himejima had gone earlier to prepare the tea and the boy sitting on the couch beside the table. "This here is Kiba Yuuto and the girl there" Rias signaled to the white haired girl that was coming back from the corner to sit beside Himejima. "is Toujou Koneko. Yuuto, Koneko, this here is Emiya Shirou-san. He's the one who helped us last night."

That drew a sharp response from the now named Kiba, who looked at me, but didn't say anything for a moment, before bowing. "It's a pleasure Emiya-san. And thank you for your help last night."

Toujou, who had one hand inside a packet of snacks, looked at me. "...pleasure." She sat beside Himejima and went back to her snack.

"It was the least I could do." I answered him.

"Shirou-san, you didn't answer my question." The black haired girl insisted.

"I don't..." I started then frowned. What could I say to these people. "Let's make it this way. You answer one question I have, and I answer one question you have. It's the least I can do for someone who bailed me out and gave me clean clothes. But for every question you can't answer I reserve the right to not answer one from you as well, deal?"

Rias too frowned a little, but nodded. "Very well, then are you going to school or not?"

"I'm not." And left it there, before they could follow up the question I posited one of my own. "Where did you get my picture to put on the documents you took to the station?" I hadn't seen the picture, but it was easy to imagine that there was one, seeing as the Officer looked several times between the paper and my face.

Rias frowned, looked at Himejima then back at me. "Very well, one question for you." She said, then asked. "Why aren't you in school. Did you stop after middle school?"

"That's two questions disguised in one." I said. "And the answer is 'no'. Where did you get the measurements for this uniform?" I asked.

"I have good eye for measurements. I only need a look to know the sizes of a person." Himejima answered, with a glint of something that I could only describe as mischief on her eyes. Well, at least I could buy that for now, after all, I too only needed one look to know everything there was to know about a sword. I just hoped that she didn't have a Reality Marble based around clothes. That would be weird. Well, weirder than a Magus in a parallel universe. The smile on her face diminished a little and her eyes opened to look sharply at me. Either she expected me to call her out on her comment about measurements, or something along those lines. "And you are not being very forthcoming with your answers."

Before I could say anything, Rias took control of the conversation again. "Why are you in Kuoh Town?"

The answer flashed in my head immediately. Because I was teleported from my and my ex-girlfriend's shared workshop to another dimension where this town was known as Fuyuki City during an experiment using the Second and Fifth Magic, but that didn't seem like a good answer. "That's... complicated. I don't know, would be the correct answer in this case. I have no idea how I ended up here. I didn't even know the name of this city until a few days ago." I frowned. "Who was that person yesterday?"

Rias frowned and seemed like she wouldn't answer then Himejima took over. "A pervert." And didn't elaborate anything else, but her smile seemed to say that she was pleased that she found an answer equal to my replies that answered the question but didn't at the same time.

"Why were you on the streets?" The crimson haired girl asked.

"I'm homeless." I answered thruthfully. Actually, hadn't I already answered that question before? Well, since she asked that, I at least now knew that 'stray' meant something else in this universe, aside from the dictionary definition. What, I still didn't know, but it was a start. "While I understand that someone needed to do something about that pervert, I still don't understand why did you guys didn't call the Police before luring him with that trap."

"Because no one else could do anything." To my surprise it was Kiba who answered. He and Toujou had been so quiet until now that I almost forgot that they were there. Perharps more telling was the wording he used, 'could' instead of 'would'. They were the ones that 'could' do something about it.

The redhead looked pensive for a moment, then she seemed to come to some kind of conclusion herself, then looked at me right in the eye and asked. "Which Faction do you belong to?"

I didn't understand the question. The Mage Association was divided in three branchs, the Clock Tower, Atlas and the Wandering Sea. There was also the Church. But all these were primarily human associations with the odd Apostle here and there, and these people were all not human. Another thing was that these branches of the Mage Association didn't refer themselves as Factions. A Faction had a connotation of dispute inside an organization. In that sense there were factions inside each of the three branches, but they weren't big enough to be known here in Japan. With that in mind, I got the feeling that Faction refered to something different in this universe, but I answered anyway. "None. I am..." I paused, then frowned. "Or was, actually is a better word, a Bounty Hunter affiliated with the Clock Tower, but I don't answer to them." I paid carefull attention to the crimson haired girl in front of me, to see if she would show a spark of recognition at the name. Anyone that knew anything about Magecraft would know about the Clock Tower, even if it was to flee from it.

Instead of recognition I only received a look of confusion from the girl. Himejima too didn't seem to know what I was talking about, since she didn't move a single muscle.

I didn't pay enough attention on Kiba or Toujou to see if they recognized the name, so I moved on. "What would happen if I didn't interfered last night?"

"We would have dealt with that... creature." Again, the wording that Himejima used was more telling than the answer itself. She didn't refer to the man as a creature because he was a pervert. The feeling I got was that she had fished the word and used in an almost literal sense. I couldn't be sure what was what just yet, though.

Maybe that man last night was another not-human like these four and they attacked it because it was prowling on their hunting grounds? It was a possibility. I didn't get the feeling of hostility from any of them yet, so I shelved this doubt to another time. All of them had the same feeling to them. It was dark, but not outright hostile, which puzzled me to no end.

That seemed to be enough for Rias, since she looked to the side, and I realized that she was looking at the wall clock placed above the door. "We have to go to class for now, but I still want to talk to you some more." Then she smiled as she thought of something. "Excuse me for a moment."

She got up and walked around the desk she was sitting at earlier, retrieved a small cellphone and dialed. Before I could say or do anything, Himejima called my attention. "You are pretty strong. To be able to knock a person out with only one punch. Do you work out a lot or did you use something to help you?"

The way she phrased the question was weird. It could either mean that I used a brass knuckle or something to that effect to power up my punch or that I used Magecraft to enhance my body. After weeks of living on the street, it was obvious that I was malnourished. I still retained some of my muscle mass, but I couldn't be called strong by any definition of the word. "I used something to help me." I answered truthfully again, without actually answering. "And now I have two questions." I smiled at the girl, before turning to Kiba. "What do you mean no one could do anything. If you reported to the Police they would have caught the man in the act, wouldn't they?"

I was sure that these weren't just some do gooder kids, since all four of them weren't human, but I couldn't be sure that they weren't Espers who had awakened to their skills, as well. This world is weird. Himejima frowned, but answered. "No. They couldn't have done anything." She too answered without answering. It was my turn to frown. Maybe that was a Dead Apostle, or a thrall of one? It was the only reason I could come up with, that would make these people risk themselves. The Esper theory I had about them didn't hold much water though, since the magical signatures all four of them held were too similar. It is rare to find a single Esper not already affiliated with a Magi Family. Four of them at the same time was unheard of. Four with the same type of abilities? I can't even calculate the probability of that. But again, another universe. Some rules may be different.

Rias came back and sat again. "Well, Shirou. I just spoke with a friend of mine, and I would like to ask if you are interested in a scholarship."

"Scholarship?" Wait, what?

* * *

All that happened months ago. I almost declined the offer. Rias, as it turns out, was a well to-do girl that practically owned Kuoh Town, but she wasn't a Second Owner. No, her family was actually the owner of so many establishments and properties in city that she was in all practical ways the owner of the town. The Shitori family, the family of the Student President on Kuoh Academy was the owner of another chunk of the city. These two combined owned over fourty percent of the city. I didn't know all of this at the time, but I ended up accepting the offer in the next day. After thinking about it, too much time had passed and if Rin hadn't found me yet, I would need to make provisions to survive in this dimension, and since I was still a highschooler, or at least looked like one, I was expected to attend school.

And here was another favor that I ended up owing the Gremory family, or at least Rias, since I never met anyone else from her family. Or Shitori's for that matter. I don't know how, but they took care of all the paperwork necessary to create a person out of thin air. If I didn't knew that they weren't human, I would think that they were the Yakuza of this dimension. Thinking about it now, that comparison wasn't that far off. Anyway, after enrolling on Kuoh Academy and taking the placement test that would make me a third year, I had to wait until the school year began in Spring, since it was late October when they found me.

In the meantime I actually got a part-time job at the school cafeteria as one of the cooks, and, if the rumormill was right, the cafeteria began to have more of a turnout after I began to work there. No idea if it was true or not, but I always enjoyed cooking, and after falling in love with the kitchen of the Academy, I didn't care about anything else.

It was unfortunate that I had to quit once the school year began, but what could I do. At least I saved up enough money to not need to rely on Rias for some time. It would take some more time for me to pay the bond I had took with her, but the rates were unreasonably low. Almost nothing actually. I still couldn't quite understand why the redhead, or Shitori Sona, for that matter, put up with me. They clearly knew that I wasn't a normal kid, but they didn't seem to know anymore than that. Once or twice I overheard they talking about inviting me to something, but they never actually got around to it.

Another thing that I wasn't quite clear was why the school had been built on this hill. Anyone with a minimum of mystical awareness knew that there was a leyline nexus on campus, or to be more precise, below the old school building, where the Occult Research Club had their base. It was interesting to know that the nexus was right below the clubroom, and it was a real club as well, with club activities and everything else expected from them. More than once I found the members roaming the city at night when I was out tailing a magical signature different from the ones I was used to.

Those times both the member I came across and me made excuses on why we were there so late at night, but while mine ranged from taking a walk to looking for a store for a late night snack, they invariably always said club activities. Even Toujou, in her usual taciturn way, only said that.

After the school year began, I quickly regained my old adage as the fake janitor, because I was always fixing things and helping people out. It was strange, actually. After so many years living on either battlefields or on the workshop, to be passing the days so peacefully. Nowadays I spent most of my free time doing oddjobs around the school.

Which circles around at my current predicament.

"C'mon man, help us out! All you have to do is drill a hole on the wall next time you go in there." Matsuda, one of the infamous 'Perverted Trio' had burst inside the third year classroom and dragged me out to the hallway during recess. Behind him, both Motohama and Hyoudou nodded fervently.

Hyoudou Issei was a name that almost gave a heart attack the first time I heard it. Issei was one of my best friends during highschool, but after the Grail War I lost all contact with him. To this day I don't know if he died when Caster took over Ryuudou Temple or not. Fact of the matter is, when I heard of Hyoudou's name, I leapt at the offchance that it was my friend, before the memory that I was in another universe kicked in and I stopped. Good thing too, since this Issei had absolutely nothing in common with my old friend aside from their first names.

"And why should I do that?" I asked the bald boy. Annoyed that they were still cornering me. Not that I couldn't simply walk out of there, but if there was one thing I didn't like was to be impolite. I was trying to build a reputation around campus, after all.

"C'mon, man! Where is your spirit of fraternity to the other guys? You are in position to create a holy land for all guys out there! You should be ashamed that we even have to come here and tell you about it!" The boy said fervently, as if chiding a child about washing hands before eating.

"Yeah!" The other two nodded and said in unison. If they had said 'Amen' I wouldn't find it weird with the tone of their voices.

The headache that was coming it was almost a palpable thing. Why should I have to deal with hormonal teenagers? Worse, perverted hormonal teenagers? Worse still, perverted hormonal teenagers that somehow managed to not be kicked out of the school yet?

A throat clearing from the corner of the stairs signaled that my savior had appeared yet again. I don't know how, nor do I care to know, but Shitori always appears out of nowhere when I'm being accosted by these three when they hatch their latest plan that involve somehow tampering with school property and need me to do something for them.

Not that I have ever done or would do, but that doesn't seem to diminish their enthusiasm any.

The three looked like the proverbial deer looking into the oncoming eighteen wheeler's headlights. Before Shitori even came completely into view, the three had already bolted to in the direction of the other end of the corridor. "Geez. What a bunch of troublemakers." The bespectacled girl said.

"I would gone with perverts myself." I answered while watching their retreating backs. If there was one thing to say about these three was that they were fast. If they were part of the track and field club, they could have some good results in the hundred meter dash.

"Yeah, that too." Then she turned to me. "Anyway, Emiya-san, I would like for you to come to the Student Council Room after school today."

"Don't tell me the heater broke again?" I asked. That thing is ancient. With all the money being thrown about on this school, it was a small wonder that several appliances and structures were so old, or seemed to be falling apart.

"No. It was not the heater, though I can't say if its still working since we aren't using it much." Shitori sighed. "Anyway, just come after school, okay?"

"Sure." The girl looked one more time in the direction where the Perverted Trio had gone with an annoyed face, then was about to retreat back to the second floor when I decided to ask. "How come those three havent received at least a suspension so far with the amount of mayhem they manage to create on a daily basis?"

The girl stopped before looking at me, like she was studying me, before she bit her lip. "Extenuating circumstancies."

I only nodded in understanding. The three or at least one of them may have the favor of Rias, the other power in control of the school from behind the scenes. At first Shitori too didn't like me much, since Rias was bailing me out of trouble to... well, I still am not too sure about why Rias did that. Anyway, at first the Student Council as a whole didn't like me, but after I started pulling my weight in the kitchen during the time I was only an employee, and now during the school year that I started to help people without asking for anything, inclusive the Student Council, most of them have come around to at least tolerate me, but the majority I can say that are casual acquantacies. The only one still hostile to me is the only boy on the council, Saji. He, on contrary of the others, seems more hostile now that I'm on good terms with Shitori than at the beginning. I'm not blind to not see what this means, but what can I do? I'll not go out of my way to ostracize myself because of a jealous boyfriend, if they are a couple at all. Kuoh has a rumor mill that is worse than an cross between a gossip show on TV and a group of busybody housewifes, school girls are scary like that, and never once I heard a rumor about them being together. And that's not even mentioning that not one of them were completely human.

I have yet to discover what that means, though. If I somehow stumbled upon a congregation of otherwordly beings or if they were that common in this dimension anyway.

But back on topic, the Perverted Trio must have some pull with Rias, so Shitori and the school staff had their hands tied. "I see." I answered finally. "I'll see you after school then." She nodded and I went back to class.

The classes weren't difficult, but there were several things that I had forgotten after years of not practicing them. At least I was still current in Math and Physics, and had a good grasp on History, specially when they concerned past wars, but when it came to abstract things, I was stumped. Fortunatelly, most of those things, like philosophy, and I still can't believe they teach that in highschool, and Japanese, mostly required memorization and interpretation, so it wasn't too bad.

Another windfall that came with accepting the scholarship here I only discovered later. The school library put several public libraries I had seen in my time to shame, and they had so many different books that I was constantly there. I was, of course, trying to find a way to at least create a beacon for Rin to find me across the multiverse, and since Kuoh Academy had a leyline nexus inside the campus, I could use the fact that I was a student here to play around a little with the energies. I hadn't had the time to yet, but once I discovered a book that talked about Thaumaturgy, even if wrong by every concept of the word, I could still use the ideas they brought. The library, however extensive it was, it was still mundane after all, except for the corner where there was Bounded Field. I almost missed it, since it was a field of disinterest, that mostly used to hide things in plain sight. I would like to say that I found it because I noticed it, but I actually came across it by accident. I was putting several books on the shelves when my arm brushed the limit of the field. After that it was just a matter of cross it and investigate what was behind it, but even then there was nothing that I could use there, and several of the Tomes I found were in a language that seemed a cross between Ancient Arabic and Fuji-nee's handwriting in English, if those smudges of ink were letters at all.

After so much time had passed I was fairly certain that Rias wasn't the Second Owner of Kuoh Town, and I was actually almost certain that the Clock Tower didn't exist in this universe. After discovering that what I knew about the internet in this universe was either outdated or, at very least, different from mine, seeing as here internet wasn't synonymous with porn, even if it had porn also, I discovered that I could get overviews of almost anywhere in the world using maps that were uploaded through sattelite photos. After that I painstakingly searched every inch of where I knew the Clock Tower was placed, and where the Wandering Sea should be passing through from what I remembered of the place. The only thing that existed, and it was vastly different from my memories, was the grounds of the Holy Church on the Vatican, but as far I could discover, Christianity was also a major religion on this world, so it shouldn't be surprising.

Point being, the Mage Association didn't exist in this universe, but it was clear that there were supernatural beings roaming around, that weren't directly hostile to human society. There was a lot more accounts of supernatural sightings on the internet and on the news, but nothing concrete or at least nothing too damning. The Church and the Mage Association would have dealt with these things far more swiftly, before they made the news. But even if the Association didn't exist, it was clear that some parallel equivalent existed, since the land had so much prana that even my third rate creations continued around for months before disappearing. The meat knife that I traced when I was still on working on the cafeteria didn't disappear for at least three months. Actually, I don't even know if I dismissed it by mistake or not.

Back around the library, aside from those tomes hidden in that corner, it had a great collection of other, more mundane titles, but sadly nothing that could be realisticly used. Most of them were conjectures and fiction. I expected the Occult Research Club to have some books about the Occult in their clubhouse as well, but they had nothing. If wasn't for the fact that I knew every member of the club wasn't human and that they had club activities, I would have thought that the club was a front for Rias.

It was an interesting game that I was playing with the two leading powers in Kuoh Academy. Both of them had the same general feel, so whatever they were, they were equals, or at the very least similar enough. Their closest allies too were similar in a way, with Shitori's studdent council members feeling more homogeneous, and Rias' members feeling almost all slightly different. Kiba was the only one of the Occult Research Club that had the same feeling as the rest of the student council. Toujou reminded of a cat for some reason, and Himejima felt like a thunderstorm. It gave me a weird feeling seeing one of the Onee-samas of Kuoh Academy with that smile on her face while feeling her energy signature. It wasn't unpleasant. It was actually quite nice, but it was... different. At least Kiba felt like a sword, and the way he acted around the others that weren't part of the club made me think of a Knight of old, born in the wrong century. I imagine Saber would be delighted to have met him.

After school, and after going through another round of fixing equipment for the Student Council, I was going in the direction of the Archery Dojo. I wasn't a member of the club but had received permission from the club Advisor to use it when the club wasn't there or had already finished activities, to use it myself. Archery was practiced on Kuoh as a sport aiming for competitions, but after the Grail War I used only for the meditation. I have never missed a target that I didn't want to miss in my life. I had done just well enough for the Advisor to give the go ahead to continue using the dojo, 'missing' three of my ten test arrows. Nowadays, I came here to relax and meditate while going through the kata of Kyudo.

I was just about to enter the dojo when I heard a series of shrieks coming from the dojo next to the archery one, the Kendo Dojo, if I'm not mistaken. After a series of screams and high pitched yells of 'get them' or some variation thereof, I saw the Perverted Trio running like their life depended on it. A few moments later I realized that maybe their lives really depended on it, since the girls of the Kendo Club, in varying states of undress, were running after them with bokutous and shinais on hand and screaming bloody murder.

Just seeing that image made me give up on entering the archery dojo. If my estimations were right, in about fifteen minutes, someone of the Student Council will track me down and ask me to fix whatever gap the trio was using to spy on the girls of the Kendo Club, and I didn't want to do it right now. I changed directions and started walking home.

Home, yes, home. I actually rented a small apartment fifteen minutes from school. The rent was low, and the landlord actually waived the rent for me most of the time, because I fixed problems that appeared around the other apartments. For him it was like he had a living-in handyman, and I didn't care so much about it, as long as I could help and he didn't try to make me do work that would make another person lose their jobs. I can say that at least my one room apartment was the first thing I managed to get on this city by myself without the help from either Rias or Shitori.

After making myself a small dinner and finished eating, I changed my clothes to what could be considered work out clothes. Sweatpants, a jacket and running shoes, and got out into the night. That was my routine. Everyone in the apartment must think that I go around for a run around this time of the day. I do go for a run, but it isn't the jogging itself that I use this time of the day for. Its to track down more of those magical signatures. The school has several of them, but they were all catalogued in my mind, and were at least initially marked as non-hostile.

But lately I have been catching different scents around, that I haven't been able to pin them down yet. At least I wasn't been observed by Rias' or Shitori's club/council members like I was in the beginning. They had spent more than a month following me around and I had made a point to appear as non-threatening as a normal human could be. They did saw me stopping a mugger that had attacked a kid a few meters in front of me one time but I had dealt with the culprit the same way a good samaritan would. With a roundhouse kick to his midsection and a punch to his face, before calling the cops. Whoever was watching that time, who was either Kiba or Meguri, didn't intervene even when the cops appeared and arrested the man. Back on topic, these new signatures that I have been feeling were mostly different from the rest, and I still didn't know if they were hostile. The only thing I could be sure was that they weren't the same as any that I have felt before, be it in this universe or my own.

But after spending every night the past week running around the city in random directions, I still haven't been able to locate exactly who or what they were. After another night running around for about two hours, and coming up empty again I returned home.

On the next day, a Saturday, I only had halfday of school so I didn't bother in packing a lunchbox. Worse come to worse, I could always pilfer, err, help out at the Cooking Club, and get some free meals out of it. On the road to school, I felt my nerves on edge. Not because I saw a girl I never seen before talking with one of the Perverted Trio, Hyoudou. What it set me on edge was that the 'girl' had the same magical signature that I had been hunting all last week. I Reinforced my hearing so I could eavesdrop on their conversation, even while I was walking in their direction, but it seemed that I was too late as the girl turned heel and started going in the other direction at the same speed as I was closing in on them.

I debated going after her, but when I saw Hyoudou swoon in place, like he was about to fall on his face, I decided it was better to make sure he was okay first, before running after whatever that girl was, that managed to make the boy this way. So, I ran the few steps that separated us, and tapped on the his shoulder. "Good morning, Hyoudou."

He didn't seem to even acknowledge my presence. Maybe that girl had placed a geas on him, or something this parallel universe had comparable? I was about to leave him there when the boy turned to me. "Emiya-sempai?" He asked me weakly.

I stopped. "Yes."

"Emiya-senpai. Please, pinch me." The boy said, still seemingly dazed.

"What?" Was the only thing that came out after a total brain lock I was under.

"Please pinch me. I think I'm still dreaming." He repeated.

I frowned. "What? Why?"

"That girl," He said pointing. "Her name is Amano Yuuma." I looked at the retreating back of the creature that was moving. What kind of enchantment has she put Hyoudou through? "And she just confessed to me."

I had another brain lock. "Wait, back up. From the beginning."

He was still dazed, but repeated. "Her name is Amano Yuuma, she confessed to me, asked me to be her boyfriend and we set up a date for tomorrow. Now please, pinch me!" He told me, almost desperately.

So I pinched.

Myself that is.

I had lived on this city for less than a year and I already knew that this boy here was a famous pervert. There's no way that someone that knew him enough to confess to him wouldn't know about it. But it seemed to be real. Whatever was happening, Hyoudou was the center of it. That... whatever it was... was going after him. Her intentions were still clouded in mystery.

"Not you, Sempai! Me, pinch me!" He pleaded.

So I did.

Punched him, that is. Right in the middle of his skull.

"Owww!" He crouched down immediately lifting both hands to his head. "I said pinch, not punch!" He whined but a moment after he said that, he started giggling. It was a disturbing thing to hear, and I backed away two steps. "It's true. I'm not dreaming!" He jumped up in the air. "Whoohooo!"

"Okay. I'm gonna leave you alone now." I said cautiously. Whatever the kid was imagining I had no idea what it could be. Correction, I had a good idea, but wanted no part of it.

He didn't even seem to hear me, as he looked at me pumping a fist in the air. "Thank you, Sempai. Motohama and Matsuda aren't going to believe me."

I almost said that I saw the girl and didn't believe myself, but held my tongue. One, because I knew that the girl wasn't human, and two because I still wasn't sure in which side of the spectrum she laid. Hostile, neutral or friendly.

Going by the members of the Student Council and the Occult Research Club as samples, I could place the majority of them at least on neutral territory edging on friendly, with the exception of Saji, but with him it was more about a teenager hostility against someone aparently getting close to his crush and less about a supernatural hostility because I was a Magus. This girl, Amano, I still couldn't place her anywhere on the scale, so she defaulted to hostile until proven wrong.

I shouldn't continue to mess up with things on this world, even minor things, like me enrolling on Kuoh, or fixing appliances and other things around. The butterfly effect was very real, but I couldn't let a supernatural creature prey on a human on my watch as well. So with a sigh, I resolved myself to lose my Sunday tailing a date.

I really needed to create that beacon for Rin to find me.

* * *

Sunday afternoon, and here I was, window shopping in the Kuoh's mall. A new saw and another set of screwdrivers would be good to have. Not that I couldn't just trace them, since they took weeks to disappear in this universe, if at all, but it wouldn't do for me to not have the tools on hand when there was people around watching me.

The real reason I was looking at the window of the hardware store was three stores down the street, a café of some sort, where a uncommon couple was having a date. Not uncommon for most people, since they couldn't really realize who and what they were. Uncommon for me, because I was following them, at the maximum range that I could afford without giving myself away.

After an entire afternoon without anything happening that was too out of the ordinary for a couple on a date, and I use that definition as loosely as possible, since if this was a date between two normal people it would have been a disaster, but nothing supernatural at least happening, I was almost giving up on the tail when I noticed that they were entering a park.

What set me on edge wasn't the park itself. It was the Bounded Field that was set up around the park. It wasn't a hostile one, or an alarm one. It was a disinterest field, designed to make people turn away from the place, similar to the one in library at the Academy, and if I wasn't so intent on going after the couple, I too would have turned around when I came in contact with it.

A few minutes later, the couple sat on a bench, and I Reinforced my hearing to eavesdrop on their conversation. Now that we were inside a field that would turn people away, and the park itself was empty, there wouldn't be too much ambient noise. I had the least risk right now that Reinforcing my hearing would cause me to being startled by a car honking on the street or someone calling loudly for someone else too near me. But what I heard from the 'girl' froze my veins.

"Would you die for me?" The girls voice was silky, almost seductive. For me at least, for Hyoudou it must have been Lust incarnate.

It didn't wait for him to answer but even then I reacted too late. Whatever he said must have been the wrong thing, because whatever the creature was, it pulled a spear of pure light out of nowhere and stabbed Hyoudou with it. Take it from one person who knows what been stabbed in the chest feels like. You don't want to know. The creature seemed to relish in the feeling of whatever face Hyoudou was making because from my perspective all I could see was his back, the tip of the spear passing through and her face.

I picked up a rock from the ground and Reinforced to the limit and threw at the thing's head. I nailed it, but the impact was just enough for it to turn to me and jump backwards, away from the boy's dying body. I called half a dozen blueprints of swords in my mind while I turned to the boy.

"Sem...pai...?" His eyes were open, but there was gaping hole on his chest. Whatever that spear was, it wasn't a normal weapon. It was pure prana given form. It wasn't something I could trace.

"How dare you, human!" The creature was a few paces away from me, and my blood was already cold. Whatever it saw on my face it liked, because it sneered at me. "Yes. Those are the eyes. Those are the eyes of the lowly creatures in fear of a blessed, higher being."

It created another of those spears and threw at me. A quick round of Reinforcement on my sleeve and I batted it aside. It wasn't enough, though. I still didn't want to use my Magecraft in any clearly visible form, but this creature was pushing me. The spear that I batted aside managed to pierce through the clothes that I Reinforced to the level of a chainmail.

That wasn't good.

"Oh, you have some skill, huh?" It said, and in that moment wings as dark as a moonless night appeared behind it and the creature started to hover a few feet from the ground. "Let's see how long can you survive" It created two more spears. "THIS!" And threw both of them at me. They weren't exactly slow, but they weren't the fastest things I ever saw either. I jumped away from Hyoudou's body and traced Kanshou and Byakuya on my hands, batting away two more of the spears that it had created and thrown at me. "Sword Birth?! How!?" It looked at me in disbelief for a moment before rage set in and it started to create more and more spears around it and shooting them at me.

They were thrown haphazardly, and didn't have any of the finness, or aim, they should have. Only a half dozen had even a chance of hitting me, and that was if I didn't move. "Trace bullet-" I chanted, while pulling the blueprints of several swords in my mind at the edge of the range for my projections, aiming them from behind the beast that was attacking me.

It stopped attacking and dismay seemed to take its place. "How?! Wasn't the owner of Sword Birth part of Gremory's Peerage?! How can you have it as well?" I didn't answer. My mind was locked in battle mode, but I registered what it said for later use. "It doesn't matter, I'll kill you now as well!"

"Fire!" I said almost placidly. All the simple swords I created on its blind spot, shot in its direction. The creature must have sensed the change in the prana, because it tried to turn around to see what it was, but it was too late to do anything about it as several feet of cold steel used its body as a pincushion. It looked at me in disbelief for a moment, before the last sword pierced its head from behind, sprouting between its eyes.

When it fell down on the ground again, I rushed to it, waiting to see if it would disappear, as some phantasmal species did, or would leave a winged body on the ground. I didn't know what would happen with the body, or if it was even still alive. A moment later I felt a change in the prana around me and immediately felt on edge. I detraced all the swords that were in and around the things body and jumped in the underbrush. If this thing had friends and they came to check on the progress of whatever it was trying to do, this time I would get the drop on them.

A red magic circle appeared a few inches from the ground and someone stepped out of it. It was my turn to look dismayed. Spatial Transportation!? Someone had created a mystery for teleportation in this universe?! In my universe the only teleportation that I was aware of happened when you used a command seal to summon a Servant to your side during the Grail War. And here was someone using teleportation? Still mostly hidden on the shrubbery, I saw the circle disappear and on the back light I saw a figure that there was no way I would forget.

It was Rias.

She didn't even noticed me or the creature's body a few yards away, and went directly to Hyoudou's body. When I tried to Reinforce my hearing to hear whatever she was saying, I realized that I couldn't understand the words. But the prana comsumption was there, and I couldn't understand what it was doing. A few moments later, she got up and left Hyoudou's body laying down on the bench he had died in and looked around, finally seeing the body of the creature that had killed him.

I heard her gasping, and a few moments later she frowned and closed her eyes. Seconds later Himejima, Kiba and Toujou all appeared around her, as if summoned by her. No. Not as if. They were summoned. I started to inch myself away from them, but still kept my focus on the group of newcomers. Himejima was the first to speak. "What happened?! Did he refuse you?"

"No." The crimson haired answered. "But someone killed Raynare." She pointed to the creature. Kiba immediatelly went to check the corpse, grimacing as he did so.

"She was stabbed." Was his veredict. "Repeatedly. And I think by more than one person. The cuts are different from each stab, but I'm certain that they were swords. And they must have been expertly made, because they cut through her bones like a hot knife on butter."

At this point I was almost out of the park. I got behind one of the trees and got up, pressing my back against it to catch my breath. Whatever these creatures were, Rias and her group knew about them.

And I needed information.

"Steel." I heard Toujou's reticent voice. "Bronze. Steel. Iron. Steel. Steel. Bronze." She started listing, and I realized that was the main composition of each of the swords that I was used on the creature.

"Several different swords." Himejima said. "But there are no footprints. All of the stabs came from the back. Maybe the other Fallen that came with her double-crossed her and they killed her while she was in the air, or maybe she was dropped here after being killed elsewhere." Fallen. The creature was a Fallen. It was a name out of context, but I could research about it later.

"She was killed here." Toujou said.

"I agree." Kiba concurred. "The blood still fresh and pooling."

"Any sign of other people around." Rias asked.

"At least another person was here. Look." Himejima said. "There was someone standing here, and judging by the number of holes on the ground, Raynare was firing Light Spears at whoever it was. By the size of the footprint it was male or a very tall female."

"Whoever it was, it wasn't a Devil. At least, not a Stray Devil. They wouldn't have enough power to do something like this." Stray Devil? Did Rias think that I was a Devil? That's why she asked me if I was a Stray? But why the qualifier then? Are there other types of Strays? Or they just asked me if I was a Stray to keep the question vague? Too many questions, but another thing to research later.

"Maybe one of them stayed on the ground and the others attacked Raynare from the back?" Kiba posited.

"Not likely. An old Fallen Angel like her would have noticed if there was several other enemies around." Fallen Angel? Like in the Bible? Angels that sinned and were kicked out of heaven? Do they really exist in this universe or is that only a name for that creature's group? And she qualified it as old? How old exactly? The creature's appearance even after it manifested its powers was still of a young girl. Granted Dead Apostles could shapeshift but this creature wasn't one. "She would never leave her back unguarded against, what, a dozen oponents?" Rias asked.

"If every stab wound is from a single individual, and no one was dual wielding, then that sounds about right." The blonde answered.

"It doesn't make sense." Himejima said.

"Koneko, can you track anyone else that was here?" Rias again.

After a few moments the girls voice came again. "Sempai." I felt my blood run cold a second time in the last fifteen minutes. The word was only an honorific that could refer to any upperclassmen, but Toujou always refered to me as that. Coupled with her usual reticence, I had no doubt that she was talking about me.

After a few moments, the president of the Occult Research Club's voice came again. "We'll not discover anything here anymore. Yuuto, get Raynare's body and bring it to the clubroom. Seal it carefully. We'll have to send it to the Grigori. Akeno go with him."

"Yes, Buchou." Both answered simultaneously.

"Koneko, fix the damage around the park the best you can."

"...yes."

"I'm going to bring Ise home."

I took that as my cue to leave, as well. Still keeping the tree between me and the group for as long as possible, I made my way to the street and then realized that the Bounded Field that was around the park had disappeared at some point, probably when I killed the creature, Raynare, a Fallen Angel. Another name had came up at the end there, but I was too frantic to commit it to memory.

I ducked in an alley and made my way back to my apartment. I had much to think about.


	2. An Unwilling Nun

A/N: Don't own anything.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **An Unwilling Nun**

* * *

The next day, Monday, I came to the school and everything seemed normal at first. I expected that would at least be some announcement about the death of one its students, but there was nothing. At first I chalked it up to some sort of elitist thing, or maybe the school was covering it up. Either way, I kept my head down and went in the direction of my class as normal.

I was passing to through the stairs landing on the second floor, making my way to the third when I heard Matsuda's voice laughing. I almost felt pity for the boy, since he had lost one of his friends, and didn't even knew it yet. But that changed when I heard another voice, that couldn't possibly be there.

"I'm telling the truth! I went on a date with her yesterday!" No doubt about it. That was Hyoudou's voice. I stopped on the landing and put my back against the wall. Anyone passing by would think that I was just waiting for someone, but I was actually paying more attention to the voices on the corridor.

"Yeah, yeah. You must have masturbated so much to some pin-up model that you dreamed about her during the whole weekend." Motohama's voice.

"She wasn't a dream! Why won't you guys believe me?!" Hyoudou's voice growing farther. They must have been walking toward their classroom. I took a risk and walked into the corridor. There I saw his back, clear as day, with that mess of brown hair, going in the direction of the classroom at the end of the corridor.

Something is not adding up. I frowned, crossing my arms, while looking down. Then I began turning back to the landing only to came face to face with another mess of hair, this time red and with an ahoge. "Good morning, Shirou." Rias said with a smile after I almost ran over her.

"Ah... Good morning, Rias." I answered lamely. I had no idea of what to say to a girl like this. Yesterday she appeared out of nowhere, teleporting to the park where Hyoudou was killed. Worse, she knew that I had been there as well.

"Is something wrong?" I realized that I was staring at her, and blocking her passage at the same time.

"No. Nothing. Sorry." I looked back at the corridor, where the Perverted Trio had just disappeared from. "Just have a lot on my mind this morning." I moved to make way for her to pass, but she didn't take the oportunity. Just kept looking at me.

She too seemed to be thinking about something. "Tell me something, what did you do last evening?"

My mind began to race immediately. She already knew, just wanted confirmation. I decided to play dumb. "Evening? I was at home, I think. Why?"

"No reason. Just I thought I saw you near Kuoh's central park yesterday." She began to move in the direction of the stairs and I accompanied her. "Probably it was someone else."

I hummed in agreement. If she wasn't going to probe me anymore, maybe I should probe her? "I just heard something so outlandish that I had to stop and make sure it was real."

"Oh? What did you hear?" The redhead's smirk seemed to almost shine in the light of the staircase. Girls and gossip go hand in hand in this place.

"Hyoudou. Do you know him?" She nodded her head, but it seemed stuttered. "His friends didn't seem to believe he had a date yesterday. Even after they repeatedly cursed him for having one last Saturday."

"I see." It was all the warning I had, before the redhead put a open hand near my face, a red magic circle on her palm and her eyes flashed red. "Hyoudou never had a date yesterday, it was all his delusion." I heard her voice come, commanding in her tone.

I could continue to play dumb, and say anything to that, but I was tired of this cat and mouse game already. I lifted my hand and held at her wrist, pulling it down. "Look. I don't know if that works on the rest of the people around school, but with me, it doesn't, so don't do it again." I grimaced lifting a hand to my temple. "The only thing that this thing does is give me a migraine."

She looked at me dumbfounded for a moment before a smile grew on her face. "I knew it!"

"Knew what?" I was startled with her reaction.

"You 'are' a Stray!" She clapped her hands together, her smiling face going brighter. "Looks like I won my bet with Sona!"

"Stray?" I knit my brows. Is she thinking I'm a 'Stray Devil' like she said yesterday? If so, why is she so delighted? Normally people don't like to get up close and personal with a Devil. Well, she is the President of the Occult Research Club, so maybe she does. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "Look, I have no idea what you are talking about. All I know is that you are not human, everyone on your club isn't as well, and also everyone on the Student Council too. I do know that you aren't primarily hostile to me, on the contrary, has helped immensely over the months I have been on Kuoh, and for that I thank you." I took a step back, crossing my arms. "But I also know that Hyoudou had a date yesterday with something that wasn't human as well, but wasn't equal to either of your groups."

Her eyes widened when I said the last part. Then her face set in a cold mask that I hadn't ever seen her in. She was one of the two idols of Kuoh Academy. One of the big Onee-samas. She always had a smile on her face, all day, every day, at least in public. The way her demeanor changed reminded me so much of other Magi I met during the years that I almost leapt to the conclusion that maybe she was a Magus after all. "Come to the Student Council Room after school." She said brisquely and continued up the stairs, without leaving me time to say anything.

Not that I had anything to say to her at the moment. My mind was still reeling from the sharp change in demeanor from the smile, that mirrored the sunshine, to the cold that blank mask that came after.

I was almost dreading the end of the day now.

* * *

I was waiting on the stairs closest to the student council room. The Bounded Field that surrounded the room wasn't a soundproof one, I had discovered earlier in my stay at Kuoh Academy. Whatever it did, I hadn't discovered yet. Everyone else was already there, but I was still waiting for the same time I had always come to the place, while eavesdroping on their meeting.

I had spent all lunch break at the library looking for books on Religion and Mythology. I discovered, much to my chagrin that the term Fallen Angel didn't actually exist in the Bible itself, but were referenced in several passages. From what I could gather in that limited time, the first Fallen Angel had been Helel, or Heiel, or something. That Fallen had in turn become Lucifer, or Satan. Fallen Angels were Angels that had sinned and were cast out from Heaven by God into Hell. Conjecturing from there, a Fallen Angel that didn't turn into a demon, was a lot closer to a human than I imagined. It wasn't a demon, and it wasn't considered an Angel anymore either. Taking Raynare as an example, they could still use Light as an element, but presumably could also wield dark energies.

Other references mentioned that Fallen Angels weren't actually sent directly to Hell. They could still be redeemed in the eyes of God, after they finished some sort of task that He posed to them. A penance. If they failed then they would be thrown in Hell.

It was weird, actually. I knew that God existed in my universe, but he wasn't so active. An Angel sighting, Fallen or not, was something so rare that some Magi completely blew them off as rumors or propaganda distributed by the Church. It was one of the points of contention between the Mage Association and the Holy Church. But in this universe they seemed to be more common, or at the very least, there were some around me. At least now I had the feel for them.

Which creates another problem. What about Rias and the others? I knew now what a Fallen felt, so what were they? They couldn't be full blown Angels. They all sinned by the definition of the Bible. Rias had Pride, same as Shitori, Himejima had Lust and Wrath under that cool demeanor, Toujou had Gluttony, and so on.

So that left the other side of the scale. Demons. But, if they were demons, they would already had tried to get my Soul, wouldn't they? Or maybe because I wasn't from this universe they couldn't? But even that doesn't add up. Why would they hunt other demons then? I could understand if this city was their hunting grounds and they didn't want competition, but then I expected more sightings, more rumors rolling about. They couldn't alter the memories of every single person living in the city for so much time, could they? The city was prospering too, and I hadn't heard of disappearances in the news or the rumormill. No sudden news of people moving away either.

Maybe they weren't Demons but another type of supernatural creature altogether that had the same dark energy? We're in Japan, so maybe Youkai? Himejima and Shinra are Shrine Maidens, so it isn't a stretch to think that maybe they were hunting Youkai. It was one of the things Shrine Maidens did, after all. Youkai did exist on my universe but were rare sightings, but here, with the level of prana in the ambient, it was possible that they were more prollific.

I was broken out of my musings when I heard a muffled voice coming from the room and Reinforced my hearing. "Are you sure that he doesn't have a Sacred Gear?" Shitori's voice. What's a Sacred Gear? I reflexively thought about the gears that exist on the sky of my Reality Marble, but shook it off quickly. The term was defined as Sacred Gear, not just gear, so it could be gear as in equipment, and not gear as in the toothed part of the wheel. Another thing for the pile of things unanswered. It seemed that for every answer that I seemingly found, another three questions popped up.

"Yes." Rias' voice. "Koneko has smelled him several times over, and he doesn't have one, but he resisted my memory alteration spell. The only thing I can think of is that he's either a Magician, Stray or not, or was enchanted by one."

"You don't think the Fallen or the Church had sent him here to spy on us?" Shitori again. Definitely not Angels then. If they are against the Holy Church, that left Demons, Youkai or something else that I haven't thought of yet.

"I thought too at first, but I don't think that either of them would send someone that is clearly talented to do a deepcover mission for so much time. Not to mention that our fields have never alerted us for killing intent coming from him." There's an answer for a question I had for some time now. At least some of the Bounded Fields around the school scanned for killing intent. "And he acts normal most of the time. The weirdest thing that happened with him was a few times that we ran into him while we were trailing Stray Devils around the city. Or the first Stray that he knocked with a single punch. A normal human wouldn't be able to knock a Devil out, even a weak Stray with a single punch, but he did." Then the pervert I pulled off Himejima that night was a Devil? I wish I remembered better the situation then. My senses were overloaded with normal scents and I was weak after so much time without eating right, and sleeping in the open.

"Are you sure it was the punch that knocked it out?" Shitori asked.

"Yes. It broke his cheeckbone. It was a mess to make the Police forget about the Stray. I almost had to erase the entire evening from one of the Officers memories just because he wanted to take Shirou directly to central booking."

"What about yesterday?"

A pause and a sigh. "He was there." Rias continued. "I don't know what happened there. According to Yuuto, at least a dozen people stabbed Raynare on the back. Going through the position of her body, and where his footprints were, he at the very least saw who attacked her."

"You don't think that maybe it was a coincidence? Maybe he had been there earlier, before the whole thing happened." Shitori again.

"Unlikely." Toujou.

"Yeah. I don't believe in coincidences. At least not with someone with so much magic in him that it leaks of his pores." Well, at least now I know that they can feel me too. I wonder what is their range? I've been standing less than fifty feet from them for almost five minutes already and they didn't seem to realize. Maybe they are like Rin and need physical contact? Or line of sight? "And he's human. No two ways about it. And all that without a Sacred Gear!" Her voice seemed to pitch a little high there. "He has to be a Stray Magician!" I took exception to that remark. Hey, I'm a Magus! I may be third rate, but I don't do shows on Las Vegas like those Illusionists did.

"Calm down, Buchou." Himejima.

"Yeah." Shitori. "I tried to measure him earlier in the year, but nothing short of a Mutated Queen would be able to Reincarnate him. That's why I didn't offer him to be a part of my Peerage." What in the name of the Root is a Peerage? That Fallen had talked about that too. And Reincarnate? Was that what happened to Hyoudou? He was Reincarnated? But what does Mutated Queen means?

I could almost feel the tension rising in the room, and I wasn't even inside it! "Hooo... Did you try to pull a fast one on me, Sona? I was the one who found him. I saw him first."

"You know as well as I do that if you could have offered him Peerage you would have already." Shitori answered.

A few seconds more and Rias sighed, with that the tension evaporated. "Yeah. I would have, there no use denying that. I was waiting to see if I could grow a little stronger so I could get him, but as things stand, I can't. I think the only person that could take him that I know of would be Nii-sama or maybe Serafall."

"Nee-sama is not looking for new Pieces, and you know that Sirzechs-sama has an unspoken rule that he would not pull anyone else to his Peerage." Shitori added.

Too many names are being dropped. At least I know that both Rias and Shitori have families that are still alive.

"But its frustrating." Rias again. "I finally found the perfect Bishop and he turns out to be too perfect!" Another silence, and Rias voice came again. "I at least want to make a contract with him."

"You can't be serious. He's a Stray, even he himself doesn't know it!" Shitori's voice too came up a few octaves. "You have to think about the name of your family first. And that's not even taking in consideration if he even knows how to make a contract."

"I know, I know." Rias sighed again. "But if I don't do it, someone is going to claim him, sooner or later."

Silence again. I almost started moving in the direction of the room, but decided to wait. "Well, back to the business at hand. What are we going to say to him?" Shitori again.

"I don't know. He's aware that we are not human, but he isn't aware of our true nature, of that I'm sure." Rias said.

"Do you think he knew Raynare was a Fallen?" The Presidents voice come out more pensive this time.

Rias on the other hand seemed tired. "I don't know." A sigh. "Going by the way he said it, he seems to know that she wasn't human, that she wasn't the same as us, but didn't know what she was, anymore than he knew about us."

"If he was there yesterday, and saw her wings, he may have made the connection." I almost couldn't place the voice, until I remembered. Kusaka, the girl was always on the library when she wasn't on the Student Council Room. I had a good rapport with the brown haired girl, since I was so often in the library with her. "I saw him during lunch break poring over several books about Angels and other mythical winged beasts." I winced at that.

"I see." Shitori said. "How are we going to play this out?"

"I have no idea." Rias said. "I said for him to come here after school mostly because I didn't know what to do when he confronted me about Ise in the middle of the hallway."

Wait, what? When she gets flustered she hides under that cold mask? That's a new one.

"Speaking of which, isn't he late?" Shinra's voice. "The time he usually comes around already passed by almost ten minutes."

"You don't think that he ran away?" Rias voice, with a hint of something I couldn't actually identify. Nervous? Scared? Anxious? I couldn't place it. "Maybe I was to rispid with him this morning and he fled?"

I decided that it was enough eavesdroping and made my way to the door. Their senses must have picked me up because the conversation stopped when I was about five feet from the door. I sighed, ran a hand over my face, waited a few seconds for my heart to stop beating too fast and knocked on the door.

In a few seconds, I was sitting on one of the couches on the Student Council room, and across from me sat, from left to right, Himejima, Rias, Shitori and Shinra. Behind the first two, stood Toujou and Kiba, and behind the latter two stood the rest of the Student Council. They were all keeping their eyes on me, and some of them appeared anxious.

This positioning was triggering my fight or flight instinct, but it was tamping it down at best I could. And the best I could at the moment was to have swords blueprints pre-traced hovering in midair pointing three of them at each member of the group of people in front of me. Four on Saji, just because. They must have realized that I was on edge, because I haven't even touched the teacup that had been put for me, even after having been here countless times and talked with Shitori and Shinra over tea about a series of different things.

"Emiya-san." Shitori started and I almost finished tracing the swords that were pointing at her on impulse. "It has come to our knowledge that you are aware of... certain things about the people present."

I looked at Rias. The cold mask she presented me earlier was gone, but she wasn't smiling. Her eyes were calculating, same as Shitori. Himejima and Shinra were both doing their best impressions of dolls that sat beside their owners, without moving. Himejima was smiling while Shinra was scowling lightly. The rest of the room, save for Toujou, where all focusing intently on me. The white haired girl's eyes appeared to be glazed over, for some reason.

"What we want to know is the extent of your knowledge." The redhead completed her peer sentence.

I sighed, and passed a hand trough my hair while sagging my shoulders and sitting back on the couch. There wasn't much I could do at this point. "Look, how about we do the same thing we did when we met each other? I answer one question, you guys answer another. If one of us refuses to answer the other has the right to not answer one as well."

Shitori looked at Rias, then at Shinra. Both the redhead and Himejima kept their eyes on me. "Very well. So, what is it that you think you know about us?"

I sighed. "Really, that's what you want to know? I don't think, I know. The fact that everyone I mentioned earlier to Rias is present proves my point." Shitori and Shinra frowned, Himejima's smile seemed to grow bigger and Rias blushed. "As for what you guys are..." I left it hanging in the air for a few moments. "I have no idea." The tension that I brought up with that pause came crashing down so hard that I had the illusion of seeing several of the people that were standing facefault. "Now, my turn. Let's see," I turned to Rias. "why did you try to use that hocuspocus to make me forget about Hyoudou's date?" I almost cringed in refering to that magic as that. In my universe at least, it was a fact that hypnosis was used to control memories of the uninitiated, and there was also the fact that the Aria for using Magecraft was a type of self-hypnosis. Memory tampering was frowned upon, but still allowed as you couldn't just kill everybody that witnessed you using your Magecraft. Using memory alteration was considered base and inelegant. At the moment, I was still playing the role of a clueless Esper, one that apparently dripped prana from his pores, quoting Rias.

"Because... It... would..." She began stutering, but then seemed to formulate her answer properly. "It would be better if people unafiliated with the events not to know about it."

"How do you know that we are not human?" Shitori asked.

"I have a sixth sense for these things." I answered smiling nonchalantly. Outwardly I was being dismissive of them, but my mind was racing. The three sword I had pretraced became five for each member present, going on six, and I wasn't feeling strained yet. This was the most I have ever held without finishing the tracing since the Grail War. "So for people unafiliated with the events would be better off not knowing. Okay, I can understand that." By the Root, how I know. All those times I had to lie through my teeth just to keep nosy people from doing something that would get them killed. "If that was the case, why not explain it to Hyoudou too? Now he was talking about it to everyone during class and even tried to talk to me during recess. Actually, don't answer that. I think I can undestand why you did that. Did whatever happened on his date caused him to become one of you?"

"In certain terms, yes." Rias said. So, going by that, Hyoudou had to die to become whatever they were. Well, they did talk about reincarnation before, so maybe it was related. But the only creatures that I knew of that could go from human to something not human, barring homuculus' bodies and souls forced into familiars, were Dead Apostles. Or zombies, but I hadn't ever heard of a functional Zombie that wasn't brought up by a Dead Apostle anyway. I wasn't sure about Youkai, but I can't remember out of the top of my head about a type of Youkai that was a ressucitated human. I already knew that these people weren't Apostles at least, so I let it slide.

"What else do you know about us?" Shitori again.

"Several things." I could stop there and the question would be answered, but decided against it. Maybe if I elaborated more of my answers they would too, so I continued. "That both of you own, or at least your families own, almost half of the city. That Toujou and Himejima are slightly different from the rest you. That Rias and you are different from the rest, as well. Let me put of this way. Let me make a comparison. Let's say that you are all puppies. I know that you two are purebreed. That Himejima is a high end cross breed. That Toujou is a another type of cross breed. And the rest of you all are normal breeds, though some you, like Kiba, Saji and Shinra have something on them that makes them a little higher end than the rest." Without leaving time for they to interject I asked. "Does becoming one of you will be good or bad to Hyoudou's humanity?"

They were almost about to shout about my earlier comparison it seemed, but Rias answered. "That will depend on his own will." I frowned. If whatever they have become needed willpower, then what would happen if they didn't meet the requirement. "You made a pretty good assessment of the differences between us, but you claim to not know what we are. Don't you want to know?"

"Want to? Yes. Need to? Only if the lives of innocents depend on it." I admitted. "What is a Sacred Gear?" I asked, pulling the words that I heard earlier during my eavesdroping.

They looked at each other. Apparently they didn't expect me to ask that. Maybe it was another name for Noble Phantasm or Mystic Codes on this universe? Shitori took over. "Sacred Gears are powerful itens bestowed upon humanity by the biblical God in order to carry out His miracles." I rolled the idea in my head. If they were bestowed upon humanity by God, them they were most definitely not Mystic Codes. God didn't exist on my universe, or at least He wasn't so active to bestow His people with itens to create miracles. Well, maybe in the past since some of the Noble Phantasms were blessed Holy weapons. It also aligned with the idea that Angels and Fallen Angels were more active in this universe since I doubt that God would give these things willynilly to anyone. God would want the ones who received His gifts to be used in some form or another for His deeds. Maybe some of the penitences the Fallen Angels had was to police the users? "You are clearly more than meets the eye. What we really want to know is what is your goal?"

I rolled the question in my head. What was my objective in here. There was really only one thing at the present. "I want to go home." I answered seriously. This was the only thing I wanted, and I was fairly certain that I could trust these people with this knowledge. "I wasn't supposed to be here. I came here by accident, and all I want is to go home, but because it was accident, my ride home can't find me." I paused. "Do you know anyone who has a Sacred Gear?"

"Yes." Rias answered immediately, while her smile grew wider. Yes or no questions. Gotta avoid them. "Where is your home? I assume we are not talking about your apartment in the city, yes?"

"Yeah. We're not. And I have no idea." I sighed, thinking about what should be happening back home. Had Rin used the the Kaleido Stick to try and track me down? Was she even trying to track me down? Maybe the Mystic Code with the Fifth Magic had thrown me back to the past? Or to the future? I grimaced just thinking about it, until I realized that they were still waiting for me to formulate another question. I sighed again. I toyed with the idea of continuing asking about the Sacred Gear, but decided agaisnt it, for the moment. There are other things I needed to know. "What's a Peerage?" At least I knew that whatever it was they couldn't use on me. At least they had admitted to each other earlier.

It was the damnest thing. Every single one them, with the exception of Toujou and Shitori reacted in some way to the question. Rias and Himejima's smiles dropped slightly. Kiba, Shinra, Kusaka, Hanakai, Nimura, Yura and Meguri frowned, and Saji scowled openly. I was almost expecting it to be a question unanswered for me, when Shitori provided one. "It's a group of people united for a common objective. Its based around chess, with the head of the group being the King and the others given roles similar to the other pieces on a board." I thought she would stop there, but she kept going. "In my group I'm a King, Tsubaki is my Queen, Tsubasa is a Rook, Saji and Ruruko are Pawns, Tomoe is a Knight, Momo and Tsubasa are Bishops." She turned to Rias, for confirmation, then continued. "Rias is also a King, Himejima-san is her Queen, Toujou-san is a Rook and Kiba-san is a Knight." Weird. Maybe it was something that was reminiscing from the time the Academy was an All-Girls school, that's why the Kings were both girls, and not the guys? It didn't matter much, anyway. She called them groups of people and not clubs, so I could infer from that that people outside could be part of their Peerages. But why couldn't they invite me since it was just a group? No. This was a cover. The groups were designed from the creatures they were. "Where did you heard that word?"

I was eavesdropping on you guys earlier. Maybe you should upgrade your Bounded Fields? Of course I couldn't say that. "I heard it several times, from several of you." I lied. Since they aren't going to be forthcoming with their answers, then they'll receive halftruths from me as well. "Generally when you don't think anyone else is near." Rias paled, while Shitori eyes squinted a fraction. I decided that I needed to change gears again. I already had them all over the place with my questions, ranging from Sacred Gears, to Peerages, to Hyoudou. This was going to sound weird, but whatever. "Where can I find Tomes and Grimoires about magic? Real magic. I know that at least Rias knows about it, so odds are you all know about it too. If you didn't," I shrugged. "well, now you know. You're very nature is magical, after all."

"Depends on what type of magic you are looking for. There are some Tomes on the library but they are on hidden parts of it." Shitori answered. "How can you not know where your own home is? The name of the city at least." She too seemed to circle back to an earlier question. She wasn't so easily fooled.

"I know where my house was. I know where the house of my ex-girlfriend was. I know where my school was. I know the region where it was supposed to be. I know the name of the city. I can point it out on a map for you, but they aren't there. I checked. Four times." I sighed. "I already raided the so called hidden parts of the library and didn't find anything useful there. Seriously, do you people even try to use those spells? Don't answer that, it was rhetorical. With the exception of the Tomes that are either too old and the ink is either blurred, or they were written in a language I never seen, there's nothing there. What I need are Tomes about Time, Dimension and Space Travel. Know where to find them?"

"Are you saying that you are a time-traveler?" Rias asked with a glint in her eyes, not answering my question.

"No. I'm not." I burst that bubble fast. Last thing I need is more attention than I was already getting. Not to mention I was more of interdimensional traveler at this point. More emphasis on the interdimensional and far, far less on the traveler part though. "And now you owe me a question."

I smiled at the crimson haired girl, but it was the President who answered. "I believe some of the Tomes in the library have some theories about these things. So you are a Magician then?" She asked.

I snorted. I hadn't even realized until this point, but I had uncounsciously called back all the blueprints I had hovering above them earlier. "No, I'm not. I'm a Magus."

That drew blank looks from all around the room. I already suspected, but in this universe there was nothing like what I was. For one, mysteries like Teleportation existed and were commonplace, and they could revive people. Reincarnation had that conotation, after all. Though since Hyoudou was now the same type of mystical being that the others were, I wasn't completely sure of that. "Can you translate or find me a translated copy of those tomes?"

"I can, but..." Shitori started but was cut off.

"I'll do it, Kaichou." Kusaka said. Now that I think about it, it was actually her that taught me how to use the internet too. A Magus using a computer. This kind of thing was unheard of in my universe, but I never was a good Magus to begin with.

"Are you sure?" The girl nodded and smiled at me. When I first saw her, I thought that she was an airhead, with the way she talked with Meguri.

Boy, was I wrong.

"What is a Magus?" Shitori continued.

"Someone who uses Magecraft." I answered easily, and grinned. Then thought back. On what I still wanted to know, before I was sidetracked. "What are the Factions and which one are you guys are part of?"

Another silence. "I'm afraid that if you don't want to know what we are, you can't ask what Faction we are part of or even name all the Factions." Shitori answered.

I absorbed that and nodded. "Fair enough."

"But..." Rias said, almost cutting me off. "Lives might depend on it." The smile had gone back to her face at some point.

"Alright. Let me change questions then. That girl Amano Yuuma, was a Fallen Angel." I didn't ask, I affirmed. "Are all Fallen Angels as hostile to humans as she was?"

"I... can't say for certain." Rias answered. I noticed that Himejima stiffened for a moment at my question. It was very well sublimated, but I had experience reading body language. "What I can say is that they don't like us."

"What is Magecraft?" Shitori again. Our conversation was going back and forth between subjects and I realized that at least Meguri, Yura and Saji were having a hard time keeping up.

"Magecraft is a conjuntion of mysteries that can accomplish anything that can be accomplished by mundane means, even if time consuming or technically improbable, but still possible." I grinned. More food for thought. "Us, as in your group or your kind?"

"Our kind." Rias answered. Only now I realized that they were trying to double team me. "What do you mean, anything possible by mundane means?"

"Let's say I create a explosion using Magecraft. Its possible to create the same explosion with the exact same power with the right amount of dynamite. A house? Building materials and let's get to work. Illusions? A few mirrors at the right angles and the right lighting will do the trick." I waited a few moments and dropped a bomb. "What are the chances of me leaving the school alive if I discover what you guys are?"

Or at least I thought it was a bomb. Both leading ladies just smiled at me and Rias answered. "It'll depend on you, not on us." Okay, wasn't expecting that. In hindsight, maybe I should have. "I don't know if you know or not, but you are a Stray. Do you know what a Stray Magician is?"

"No. I don't." I answered, then frowned. "I don't actually have more questions at the moment." Then I turned to Kusaka. "When do you think you can find me the translated copy of that book?"

"Oh, no. I think you didn't understand what I meant. I can help you research them, but to translate whole Tomes is a little..." The twintailed girl trailed off as she answered.

"Oh." I grimaced. Yeah, in hindsight that was a stupid request. There was no way that this was a good idea, but I was all out of other ideas at the moment. "Okay. Tomorrow after school, then?"

The girl beamed at me. "It's a date!" I swear that she was teasing me, because Meguri immediatelly started sputtering something beside her.

"It's a date." I smiled at her. The sooner I had the information, the sooner I could create that beacon, and the sooner I would be out of here.

While the rest of the room devolved into chaos, Himejima was still focusing on me. "You were there yesterday, when Hyoudou-kun was killed. You faced off against Raynare. You left just before we arrived there."

"I think you forgot to make your question during your assertions." I said, turning to the girl.

"Who killed Raynare, the Fallen Angel that was posing as Amano Yuuma?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

I could deflect the question and say anything else, they still owed me a question after all, but I decided against it. I may be older now, but I never said that I wasn't still reckless. "I did."

"What?! How?! There were dozen of different stab wounds on her body, all from different weapons." Rias asked, her face going set, not quite the cold mask I saw this morning, but getting there.

Okay. That's where I need to use my right. "Sorry. I'll have to decline to answer that question. And even with that you guys still owe me two extra." I grinned.

Shitori pulled my attention back to her. "The books you asked about, time, dimension and space travel. You already said that you are not a time traveler. You said that you already checked the maps, so you can't be a space traveler. The only maps are from earth after all, so I have to ask, are you a dimensional traveler?"

She was sharp, not that I really think I needed to hide that information, but the question was already there, so even if I tried to deny all my answers so far led to that conclusion anyway. "Yes. And that's three. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go hunting."

"Hunting?" Rias asked. "What do you mean?"

"The creature that I killed yesterday was a Fallen Angel, correct?" She nodded. "Then I assume that you know that there is more of them around town?" Her eyes widened. Whether it was because I knew there were more and she didn't, or because she didn't thought I knew about the other Fallen Angels. "I found other signatures similar to hers over the week, and she was definitelly not the only one."

"Wait." Rias said. "I can't say why right now, but please don't go after them just yet. I know that there are more Fallen on the city, but we are negotiating with their leader so that they leave without escalating hostilities between us. Not to mention that they are dangerous. I don't know how you got the drop on Raynare, but you are only human and they are powerful"

I had half a mind to ignore her, since these creatures already attacked a normal person before, but then decided to try a compromise, since Raynare could be an exception, rather than the rule. Powerful enemies were par for the course in my line of work. "Okay. I'll not go after them just yet, but if I come across any of them, and they are attacking someone, all bets are off."

After a moment she nodded.

I got up from the couch. "Thank you for your time. I'll be going now."

"One more thing." The redhead again, after I got to the door. "If you come across Issei-kun, tell him to come talk to me on the clubroom."

I nodded to the girl and left the room. The day was almost over by now, and I didn't know what to do with the information I just received. At least I managed to get a deal out of it. It's a long shot, but if there are anything useful on those Tomes that Kusaka is going to translate for me, then this whole thing was worth it.

I think.

* * *

Wednesday morning, I was coming to school again, and my mind was still reeling from all the information Kusaka had dumped on me yesterday afternoon. I had bought another notebook just for this, but I was seriously thinking on buying a recorder. The girl seriously talked fast when she got into a rhythm and it was hard to keep up, specially since several of the terms she was talking about were completely new for me.

I was still thinking about that when I got to my shoelocker and was about to remove my indoor shoes from it when a small paper dropped down at my feet. I looked at it confused for a good minute, without making any mention to reach for it. It was an impossibility. I heard of this before, but never happened to me. Even more after I began to date Rin back in High School.

People simply didn't do that anymore. Usually when someone wanted to talk to me they came directly or at most left a message with someone close to me. But what I was seeing was without a doubt a letter. And going by the stationary used, pink collored, it couldn't be the other type of letter that was left in guys lockers. If it was a challenge, usually they would at most be a doubled up ripped sheet of a notebook, not in a pinkish envelope.

After making sure that no, I wasn't going insane, I reached for it and ripped it open. Immediately my senses were assaulted by a sweet perfume that I could only define as flowery. There wasn't a plant that I recognized that smelled like that, and I was good at recognizing scents. Well, most of those scents are metaphysical, so I can't really be sure. Maybe some of the mystical smells that I recognize are really completely different? It was possible.

When the initial assault ended I pulled the stationary from inside the envelope and began reading it, frowning a little. Whoever wrote this had been observing me inside the school for quite some time, since it knew several things about me, like Shitori would sometimes ask for help, or Rias would come talk with me, or how the advisor of the archery club continued to insist that I should join the club officially.

In the end there wasn't a confession, like I was expecting, but there was a note asking me to meet up with whoever wrote this at the rooftop where I usually eat my lunch at lunchbreak. Even this detail was something that I thought few people knew. Seems like I was wrong. Either that or I had a stalker. Which would be even worse. With all the supernatural people on campus, I think I had lost my touch against the more mundane means of surveillance. That wasn't good.

I spent the rest of the morning puzzling over who could it be, but came out of it empty. I couldn't actually say what I was feeling about the whole situation. At lunchbreak I was still thinking if I should go there or not, but in the end it wasn't even a question. Sighing heavily, I collected my lunchbox and went to the rooftop, like I always did, and as I expected the rooftop was empty. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding, then admonished myself. I was a grown man... Okay, my body wasn't, but I was already a mentality of one. I shouldn't have been expecting anything.

I was about to sit on the bench when I saw on the corner of my eyes someone was there, behind the wall that enclosed the end of the staircase that led to the rooftop. To be more precise, I saw the tip of a skirt and a ponytail from behind the wall. I sighed and was walking in the direction of whoever it was to get over with it once and for all, but when I was five steps away I heard a third voice that I wasn't expecting.

"I love you, please go out me." A male voice, from the blindside of were the girl in front of me was. Actually, now that I stopped to think I realized that I knew the girl.

"I'm sorry, Hidaka-kun." The girl bowed, her ponytail disappearing from my point of view.

A few moments later the boy asked. "Can you tell me what I lack to be able to sway your feelings?"

I couldn't hear her answer as another presence was behind my back at the same time. I turned and a small, probably a first year, girl with dark eyes and dark hair, tied in twintails at the back of her head appeared. "Good afternoon, Emiya-sempai."

"Ah, good afternoon... Erm..." I looked at the girl, trying my hardest to remember her but drawing blank. "I'm sorry, I don't think we were introduced."

She blushed. "Oh... Right." The girl bowed slightly. "I'm Kotone. Furukawa Kotone, first year, class 1-C." I nodded.

"So, Furukawa-san," I began, pulling the letter from my back pocket. "Was it you who put this on my shoe locker?"

"Erm... yes." Her voice was so small and affraid that I was puzzled for a second. "It was me."

"Was it a dare or something?" I asked her. It was possible. It had been a little over a month that the school year began and there's no way that she would just do that without a reason.

She looked back at me wide eyed. "What? No," Then she realized that she was looking at my eyes and her face lit up again with it. "nothing like that." Her voice diminished in volume again.

"Hmm... I see." I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "So, what exactly is this about? I'm sorry if I sound dense about the situation, because I'm really clueless about the proccess. I never received a letter like this after all."

"Really?" She looked up, curiously, but she seemed to decide to look at my hair rather than my eyes. "Never?"

"Yeah..."

"Then you never had a girlfriend, Emiya-sempai?" She asked again.

"A girlfriend, huh." I sighed. "Yes, I had a girlfriend but we are separated now." I answered her and her eyes lit up.

"C-C-Can I be your girlfriend then?" The girl stammered her question out.

I lifted a hand and patted her on the head. Was it like this when I was at school? Now that I think about it, there was always talks about this kind of stuff happening to other people, but it always seemed to be something so far away from my day to day activities that I had never actually thought about it until now. The way this girl, Furukawa, was blushing at the contact of my hand with her head, made her endearing and cute, but unfortunatelly it wasn't on the level that I would consider date someone more than ten years younger than me.

For all that I wanted to know how that happened, how could she be so brave to ask me out like that, I couldn't trample the feelings of the girl. I should turn her down immediately. "I'm sorry." I said, giving her back the letter. "I'm not looking for a girlfriend at the moment. I have... issues that I need to solve before I can think of seeing anyone." I answered her and could see the way she deflated, her eyes moistening. "You're cute, Furukawa-san." Her head come up to look at me wide eyed instantly. "I'm sure that you'll have no trouble finding yourself a good boyfriend, someone who will treasure you greatly."

"Emiya-sempai..." She breathed out and it seemed that the breath was deflating her again. "I'm sorry for having troubled you."

"It wasn't a problem for me, Furukawa-san." I smiled at her. "If you want to we can stay friends."

She gave me a watery smile, but shook her head. "I'm sorry, Emiya-sempai." She looked down. "I knew that I wouldn't have a chance but decided to ask you out anyway, just to be free from this feeling." She looked up again and her tears fell unbidden. "I'm moving out of the town tomorrow and I wanted to make sure that I didn't have any regrets before transfering."

My eyes widened at that, then I tried to make a comforting smile. "I see, but that doesn't go against my proposal, you know? If you ever find yourself back here and I'm still here too, you can come to talk."

"Thank you, Emiya-sempai." She bowed ninety degrees, still crying, but at least she was smiling when her face came back up again. "Goodbye."

"No." I told her and she was a taken aback by the resolve in my voice. "Not, 'Goodbye'. Just... See you around."

Her smile came back full force. "Yes. See you around, Emiya-Sempai."

With that she left the rooftop and let me hanging alone. I sighed and looked at my lunchbox still forgotten on the bench. Then I turned to the railing and leaned over it, looking at the horizon. I had two minds about the situation. One, what would she do if I had said yes? Would she force herself to stay here, or would break up immediately afterwards? Or even worse, would she want to have a long distance relationship? Right off the bat? That wouldn't work. Long distance relationships don't work even when the couple know each other for far longer, like what happened with Rin and me. The other thought I was having was that the girl had basically used me to leave her lingering feelings behind.

I sighed once more. I shouldn't be even thinking about relationships anymore. Not here and not back home. I was running out of time. Archer was around my age when he made his deal with Alaya, and I was still walking his same path. One would think that with all that I said to him during the Grail War, I should know exactly what to do in order to avoid the same fate as him, but in the end I couldn't simply deny my ideals. They were in my nature.

"Poor girl..." I heard a voice behind me after a moment, but didn't even turned. I knew who it was.

"Poor guy too, wouldn't you say?" I answered her as she moved to lean on the railing beside me.

"Not really." She said flippantly. "Hidaka-kun is a good underclassman, but that's all. He doesn't need to get involved with my life." Her voice had come down to a more serious tone. "Besides, he isn't someone really committed. He only sees what he wants to see."

"Really?" I asked the brunette. "You seem to know an awful lot about the kid."

Himejima shrugged. "Hard not to when he practically told me the story of his life when he called me here." Then her eyes filled with mirth as she turned to me. "You on the other hand keep your secrets very closely guarded. Not even that girl who apparently knew everything about you discovered anything more than what we already know."

I chuckled. "Secrets? What secrets?" Turning to her, I could see that she was amused as well. "I'm just a highschooler who didn't even know that there was girl who kept looking at him."

"Hooh..." She smiled brightly at me. "So you are so used to the stares that you don't even notice them anymore?"

"Same as you." I flipped back at her. "Or are you going to tell me that you notice every single crush that the majority of the guys and even a few of the girls have for you?"

Her face didn't change, but she tilted her head to the side. "I don't know what you are talking about."

I smiled at her then looked back at the horizon. "We just have too much to hide from the others to be able to have a normal relationship with anyone. There's no need to drag them into the ugly side of the world."

"The ugly side of the world... huh?" She repeated my sentence, thinking to herself. "Do you even know about the ugly side of the world?"

I smiled bitterly. "Its all over the newspapers. Famine, War, Death, Oppression. They are all the same no matter where we are. It's the flipside of human nature. We have free will, but that means that we'll make mistakes. Sometimes, people revel on the mistakes instead of correcting them."

She kept silent beside me for some time. It wasn't uncomfortable per se, but I think it was because I was mostly ignoring her, while my thoughts circled back to Furukawa. That girl had just began the school year here and already had to transfer. Must be though to transfer at this time of the year, but thinking about it, better now, early in the year, than later when she would have trouble getting along with the new people. Now she had almost the whole year to get to know her new classmates.

Thinking about it, it was somewhat how I felt at the moment. I transfered to a third year class, where most people had been together since their first year. It was hard to make new friends. The only thing that got me out of that was because I wasn't actually here to make friends, but using the school as a means to an end. Having a stable life in the meantime was enough, and with some luck, someone would come and get me before I created any kind of lasting bond in this universe.

Himejima must have seen something in my face, because her own face was one of sympathy insted of the teasing smile she usually wore. She put a hand on my shoulder and said. "Mistakes are easy to make. Correct them is hard. And people are weak." She shook her head. "I have to go now. See you later, Shirou."

"True that." I nodded. "See ya, Himejima."

I didn't turn to bid my farewell to her, and instead kept watching the skyline of the city for a few more minutes before sighing and turning back to the bench where my forgotten lunchbox was. Well, 'was' being the right word, because when I looked at it, it was empty and a bundle of white hair was lying on the bench next to it.

The white hair belonged to a soundly sleeping Toujou, though. My lunchbox had been wiped clean, not even a grain of rice left inside it. I would have said some choice words to the girl, but the way she was sleeping with a smile on her face reminded me so much of a kid taking a nap after a meal, that I didn't have the heart to do it.

Instead I traded places with the lunchbox and sat beside the girl's head and began to pat her. Her hair was silky, and it felt pleasant to untangle them with my fingers. I began to do that absently for a few minutes until I heard a noise from her and looked down. Her eyes were half open, and she was moving her head into my hand, instead of pulling back. I could only surmise that she was liking the ministrations I was doing so I continued while smiling down.

Her half-lided eyes were actually glazed over and I swear that I could almost hear her purr happily. I chuckled at the image of a stone faced Toujou cosplaying with cat ears and a tail, purring and saying 'nyaa'.

My chuckle must have been too loud, because the girl all but jumped away from me in the direction of the staircase. She looked at me, then at the lunchbox, then at my hand, then at me again. Her face continued stoic, nothing like the smile she was wearing while sleeping on the bench, which made me frown. Was life so hard on this one that the only times she could feel happy was when she was on dreamland?

She didn't say anything, not even acknowledging that she had eaten my lunch, before turning and walking down the stairs. Smiling wryly at the antics of the white haired girl I looked back at the lunch box. My stomach chose that moment to remind me that I hadn't eaten anything, and to compound on the problem, the first bell rung.

I sighed again.

Weirdly enough, that day after school and after another grueling session with Kusaka on the library, my shoe locker had other itens there again. Just that this time there weren't any letter or stationary or anything like that. Just four bars of chocolate. I looked at it confused. It wasn't Valentines Day or even White Day for that matter so I spent some time again in front of my locker trying to puzzle out what had happened.

A streak of white in the corner of my vision was the piece of the puzzle that finally made me realize what had happened. I kept looking at the direction where the girl had hid herself and chuckled. I got the four bars and put three of them inside my schoolbag, and began walking in that direction, and just as the girl peeked out from the corner again, I put a hand on her head.

"Thanks, Toujou." I said to her and began patting her head, caressing her scalp with the movement. Her eyes began to half close again, and I had to smile inwardly as she realized this too and jumped back. Looking at my hand then at me. She turned around without changing expressions and walked in the direction of the Occult Research Clubroom.

Well, I could piece it that she felt bad for eating my food and tried to give me something in return.

I chuckled again as I broke a piece of the bar and ate it.

* * *

I didn't cross paths with Hyoudou during the rest of that week, but I could gather that he did talk to Rias, and he was more energetic than ever after that. Well, good for him, I guess. The grueling sessions I had with Kusaka on the library continued and to my chagrin it was slow going. There was nothing so far that could be useful for me to use. According to Kusaka and Shitori, there were several other schools of magic in this universe, and, even if they hadn't ever heard of Magecraft, it wasn't out of question that they simply didn't know about it.

Which brings me to my current problem. I need to try and translate their system of manipulating mana, that uses calculations and sigils, into something useful for me. The closest I knew about would be Formalcraft, Runecraft and Sakura's brand of mysteries with Imaginary Numbers. But I hadn't ever learned them in depth in the past because they were either too time consuming or too wonky to use in a pitched battle. Or in the case of Sakura's Imaginary Numbers, impossible, plain and simple.

I know that the Fraga family used runes during combat, but they had generations to refine their craft. I was starting from scratch and I was always going from battlefield to battefield, with barely time to spare so I could study more.

The few runes that I did know how to use were either battle oriented or dealt with creating bounded fields for protection of my workshop or my house, that I still hadn't find a place to set up in this universe, and what I needed right now was something decidedly not part of any of those. Another thing was that I still didn't know if it was better for me to use the leyline nexus on school, because of the energy consumption, or if it would be better to create the beacon in the same place I appeared in this universe. That was a problem for later, when I knew what I needed to do, and knew what would be the requirements for it.

Today was Saturday again, and I was hoping with the halfday that the school had I would have more time to really crack down on those books. Kusaka had yet to say anything agaisnt me for occupying so much of her time, but I didn't want to bother her for too long. If today we didn't found anything that I could use, I think I will call the thing off and search for other ways.

At least now I knew a whole lot more about calculated magic. Shitori had mentioned that she was willing to tutor me in that school of magic, but I had declined initially. Something about the way she said it set off alarm bells on my head.

So, it was with great disappointment that I heard Kusaka apologizing that the Student Council had duties to attend today and she couldn't help me. I smiled at her and apologized myself for taking so much of her time lately, and set off from the school. During the whole week I still passed by and even tailed some of the Fallen Angels, but hadn't been able to pinpoint their location yet.

All I knew was they were to the East, ironically near where Kotomine's church was supposed to be on Fuyuki, in the Shinto part of town. It made some amount of sense and didn't at the same time. Fallen weren't supposed to be on the good graces of God, so Holy grounds should be bad for them, but as Kotomine himself had shown, just because you are His follower, doesn't mean you aren't evil to the core. They could twist the teachings of God to match their worldview. Even if they aren't human, I suppose the same applies to them as well.

I thought about doing some experimenting with the spells that I did understand from the books, but decided against it in the end. In my mind, experiments came with the connotation of having a workshop. I really need to find someplace to set one up.

So, here I was walking around town, trying to catch a whiff of these creatures when what I caught was someone coming in my direction fast, faster than should be normal for a human, but still not as fast that could be considered supernatural.

It puzzled me for a few moments until I realized that I knew who it was. Hyoudou was coming close, and would appear in front of me in the corner a few feet away in a few moments. I stopped and waited. Maybe Rias had sent him to fetch me, for some reason, or it could be a coincidence. Although it pains me to admit, they do in fact exist. Coincidences, that is. Its not always that the world is out to get me, and sometimes its just a case of wrong place wrong time.

After waiting a few moments on that place, Hyoudou appeared on the corner, and didn't turn in my direction, like I was expecting. He simply passed by. Now I finally understood why he was so fast, since he was on a bike going down the street. I walked the rest of the distance to the corner and realized that he was going down in the direction of the suburbs for some reason. To be honest, I don't know where he lives, so maybe he's going home.

Deciding to put that out of my mind for the moment, I continued my pat- er, stroll. It was such a nice day for a stroll around town, to put things that were happening out of my mind for a few hours, that I couldn't be blamed if I ran into something, right?

Like when I heard a "Nooo!" coming from the corner of another street that I coming to. I immediately took off in the direction of the cry but didn't see anything for a few moments, until I came to an alleyway, where two people were messing around with a bundle of black clothes and yellow hair. For a few moments I didn't even realize what was what, until it finally dawned on me that there was someone inside the clothes and, whoever it was, was so small that I almost didn't catch it. An instant later I noticed that the person inside the clothes wasn't a willing participant of that particular event.

I rushed to them, and after a bodyblow to one that was covering my view of the person, he went flying down the alley and hit his shoulder on the wall. The other realized that whoever his partner was, had just gotten swapped by me.

"Who are you?" The man, who looking closely was wearing robes like a priest pulled what could only be described as a gun. A gun. Where the hell did he pulled that from? "No one mess with-"

I didn't even let him finish whatever he was going to say. Right now, the only thing that mattered was the girl being manhandled by these two people. I doubted they were really priests anyway. Even if they were, it didn't matter. I pulled the girl from his arms, and using the same movement pivoted my left foot on the ground, turned and kicked him on the side of the head, sending him to sprawl beside his friend.

Still holding the girl by the shoulders, I shielded her with my body while turning my head to the people on the ground. Without looking at her I asked. "Are you alright?"

Whoever it was took a few moments before answering, but did so in the end. "Y-Yes."

"Can you walk?" I asked, still eyeing both "priests" that were just now moving to right themselves.

"Y-Yes." She stuttered an answer again, but the moment I stopped holding her, she fell on her knees. I grimaced at that, but right now there were other things to worry about.

"Wait here." Both men were already up and eyeing me as more than just a nuisance. I don't know what they were expecting, but since the girl so far hasn't said anything about me hurting them, I could safely assume that they weren't her friends.

I took two steps in their direction, looking at both of them carefully. Both men had cropped black hair, but the one I had sent flying earlier had a stub or hair on his face, and the other was clean shaven. At least I had something to differentiate both of them. I was still watching the one who pulled a gun on me earlier, when I noticed that the other was about to open his mouth to say something.

I didn't let him. A round of Reinforcement on my legs and I was already with my fist on his face. "What th-" It was all that the other managed to get out before I kicked him again. While both of them were still flying backwards, I turned back to the girl, got her in my arms and bolted from there.

Only now that I got a good look at the girl I saw that she was wearing Sister's robes. Though, I noticed that peripherically, as most of my attention was still on the street in front of me and on the alley we just left. After running for almost five minutes, without a set pattern through the streets and alleys, there was no sign of being pursued, so I let the Sister down on the ground again.

"Are you alright?" I asked. I could have dealt with both men in that alley more throughly, but for all that they were deviants, they were still human. I already had problems with the Police just because I stopped one almost rape. Sure, it turned out that there wasn't any danger for the girl at that time, but it didn't mean that she... "Wait." I looked down at the girl. "You don't work for Rias or Shitori, do you?" I didn't just blew another of their 'operations' to catch deviants on the act did I?

The girl started to answer "Yes" for my first question, but stopped when I said to wait and now was looking at me with a half-dazed, half-confused expression, tilting her head to the side. "Working for who?"

I waved a hand in front of my face. "Never mind. I'm sorry about your veil." During my mad dash, I lost the girl's veil somewhere, but she still was looking at me with that dazed expression during the whole time I was carrying her so I didn't think to mention. All my senses were directed to see if we were being followed at the time. "Do you have somewhere I can take you?"

That seemed to snap her out of her reverie. "My suitcase!" She exclaimed.

"Suitcase?"

"Y-Yes. E-Everything I have was on my suitcase. It was with me when they tried to force me to go with them." The girl looked she was about to cry, and I winced. I didn't realize that she had anything with her at the time. I looked around where we were, a pretty busy park, so I let go of her arm that I was still holding.

"Did you know those two back there?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "No. I was supposed to go to the church, and since they were wearing priests robes I tried to ask them, but they only started to leer at me." She scrunched her face. "They said something about 'comrade'..."

"I see." I didn't actually. Who wears priest clothes if they weren't? Well, anyone not normal. Why is there so many perverts around this city? Is that why Rias runs her 'operations'? "Well, you can't go back there. It's best if you go directly to the church. In the meantime I'll see what I can do, okay?"

She looked at me with wide eyes, before nodding and holding both hands in a prayer. "Thank you, sir. May the Lord offers His blessings upon your kind soul."

She was so earnest with that prayer that I almost blushed. I had a feeling that she was good kid, only that she got involved in a mess without realizing. "Anyway, I'll go there and see you at the church, okay?" Since there's only one catholic church in this city, it was pretty easy to guess where she wanted to go.

She nodded again, and before she could say anything else I took off in the direction of that alleyway again. I wasn't hampered now by the need to be carrying a second person, but I also wasn't Reinforcing my legs anymore, so I ended up taking the same amount of time that I had before.

I found her suitcase easily enough, but unfortunatelly, the contents were spilled on the ground. Those two probably had gone through her things, and took anything valuable that they found. I sighed and gathered whatever was clean enough or looked like it belonged to her inside the case. After a second look around to make sure that it was all there was, I closed the suitcase and began to haul it back to the sister.

It was only then that something came back to me. The whole problem started when she went to ask those guys where was the church. Of course she wouldn't know where the church was. I ran a hand through my face hard. Stupid. I set off back to where I had left her.

To my dismay, before I was halfway there, I found her again, being accosted by another guy. I sighed. Is this girl a magnet for trouble? Not that I could say anything without sounding an hypocrite, but she seemed to be worse than me. She was stammering something, and the boy in front of her was bending over slightly over her. Worse, the boy was wearing a Kuoh Academy uniform.

I didn't let that detail get to me and snuck behind him and pulled him choker hold. "Yo!" I greeted the nun. "I think this is yours?" I handed her the suitcase while she looked dumbly at me as the boy she was talking to was suddenly a good foot taller than before.

"Y-Yes." She stammered again. "Yes. U-Uhmm, what are you doing?" She asked.

"What?" I asked in return. Then she pointed to whoever I was holding. Just by his magical signature, I already knew it was Hyoudou, but since she had problems with perverts earlier, one couldn't really fault me for doing this to him. He was one third of the Perverted Trio, after all.

"Why are you holding Issei-san like this?" She clarified.

The boy was strong. Stronger than should be possible for his frame, but then again, he wasn't human anymore, so I couldn't really use that as a measure. "Because this guy is a known pervert. And he was accosting you."

Her eyes widened ever more. "No. I was the one who asked him to guide me to the church. I'm new in town, and didn't know my way." She said immediately, and I winced internally. Yeah, that was my fault, but that didn't deter my actions at the moment any.

"Seriously?" She nodded. "And he didn't try to feel you up or anything?" She shook her head. "Huh." I said dumbfounded. "That's a first." I scratched my head. That was new. I thought that Hyoudou would be all over a cute little Nun like her.

While I was still thinking, Hyoudou kept kicking and trying to free himself from my hold. I had to Reinforce my arms just to hold him still. "Are you not going to release him?" She asked me.

"Huh? Why?" I asked her back.

"Because he's turning blue on the face." She pointed out.

I looked at the pervert in my arm, and boy, isn't that sentence a fertile ground for double-entendres, and he was starting to go limp. "Oops. Sorry." I released him.

He immeditelly stumbled to the ground swallowing huge gulps of air. "Are you okay, Issei-san?" The girl asked.

"What was that for, Sempai?" He in turn asked me, ignoring the girl.

"What you wanted me to do?" I said. "You are a known pervert in town. And I find you leaning over a girl wearing a Nun robe. What you think it looked like from behind?" I defended my actions.

"She was looking at my hands that I skinned when I fell earlier and she got worried. It wasn't my fault!" He shouted.

"Really?" I turned to the sister.

"Yes. Issei-san offered to help find the-" She was cut off by a rumble that appeared to be from a beast right out of hell hungry to eat the flesh and souls of every person in range. I immediatelly put myself in front of the two of them and started scanning the crowd.

"Hyoudou. Did you see where did that come from?" I asked.

"No, Sempai. I never heard a sound so monstrous. What was that?" At least he seemed to forget his perversity for the moment and was shielding the girl with his body.

"I don't know." A moment later and again the same sound, but now came from my back. I immediately turned but the only thing there was Hyoudou, the Sister and the wall behind her.

And she was... blushing?

What the hell?!

Then it finally dawned on me. "Seriously?" As if to make my point, her stomach rumbled again. I almost deflated on the spot. All the adrenaline that flooded my veins made me feel stupid now. She blushed even redder, if that was possible, and I sighed. "Come." And started walking down the street.

A few seconds later they started following me. "Wait. Where are we going?"

"Lunch." Was all I said.

Forty five minutes later, I was serving both my guests a impromptu early dinner, consisting of fried rice and omellette at my apartment.

The sister looked at the bowl in front of her then to me, then to bowl again, then to Hyoudou, then back at the bowl, but didn't make any movement to get the chopsticks that were beside it. Hyoudou didn't even realized that the girl had looked at him. "You can go ahead and eat. Don't worry about me." I said, sitting at the low table with a cup of tea in front of me.

"Itadakimasu!" Hyoudou cheered, before getting his chopsticks and diving in his own bowl. "This taste. It's been ages, Sempai. Ever since you stopped working at the cafeteria." He cheered with tears forming in his eyes. That was news to me. I didn't know that Hyoudou was one of the regulars at the cafeteria while I was working there.

I looked at the girl and she still hadn't touched her bowl, and was only looking at Hyoudou and blushing. When she finally made mention to get the chopsticks, I facepalmed. Of course, she wouldn't know how to use them. I had spent so much time around foreigners that knew Japanese culture by default that I didn't realize that maybe this was one blonde haired green eyed girl who actually hasn't been introduced to this particular custom. "Wait a moment." Problem was, I didn't have any cuttlery in the house. Never needed, so I just turned my back to them, got to the cabinet, put my hand inside it, shielded from their eyes and traced a spoon. Then I got back to them and hand it to the sister. "Here. If you didn't know how to use the chopsticks, you could have said so, you know?" I smiled at the girl, and she blushed even redder. At the rate she was going I was starting to feel like she would end up having a stroke.

She put the bowl back on the table, with the spoon beside it and composed herself. She joined her hands in front of her, closed her eyes and lowered her head a bit. "Bless us, O Lord, and these your gifts, which we are about to receive from your bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen." A simple grace, and earnest as well. It seemed that when it came to her religion the little Nun didn't do anything by halves.

I didn't miss when Hyoudou flinched either, almost letting go of his bowl, or how he lifted a hand to his temple during her prayer.

She gingerly got a portion of the food and put on her mouth and her face lit up in pleasure. She seemingly forgot that there were other people in the room and dived in the bowl, chomping down the food like there was no tomorrow. I had to wonder how long had she gone without eating?

"Sho goood." She said while looking like a chipmunk with both cheeks bulging. The way she acted reminded somewhat of Illya. I don't know why though, since they were completely different from one another. My first meeting with my adopted sister couldn't have been more different either. It was just in her manneirisms and the way her eyes lit up at certain points during our conversations that made me feel that way.

I was brought out of my musings when a cry of "More!" came from the other side of the table. I don't even know why I had served him as well, but Hyoudou hadn't even finished chewing the portion that was on his mouth and was thrusting his bowl at my face.

"Yes, yes." I said, getting up from my place, getting the bowl and going back to the pan. "What were doing in the city, Hyoudou?" I asked what was bothering me since earlier.

"You can call me Ise, Sempai. All my friends do." He said beaming me up.

I felt a chill. "I don't want to be acknowledged as a friend on equal grounds of the Perverted Trio."

The boy paled. "No, not them. I mean the guys at the Occult Research Club." He said that and I felt a little better. It was true too, now that I think about it, the other perverts didn't really call him that.

"Then, Ise," I repeated. At least he didn't ask me to call him Issei. That would be weird, considering I knew another Issei, in another universe. I sighed. "What were doing on that part of the city?"

"I was visiting a client." He answered, and I raised an eyebrow. Did he have a part time job? Those were prohibited by school rules. It was one of the reasons I saved up money before so I wouldn't need to work to get more money during the school year. I wouldn't oust him if it was, though. Everyone had their own circumstances. I handed him the refilled bowl.

"I see." I looked at the sister and realized something. "Hum, well, this is awkward. I didn't even introduced myself to you yet, did I?"

She was fishing for strays grains of rice on the bowl, and didn't even realize that I was talking to her. I reached out and plucked the bowl from her fingers, while getting up again. She yelped when her target disappeared from her, before looking up.

"My name is Emiya Shirou." I said smiling at her before turning back again to the stove. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Ah," She blushed yet again. Seriously, so far I had only seen this girl do two things most of the time, outside of her prayers, blush and stammer. "A-Asia Argento. I'm a nun with the Holy Church. It's a pleasure to meet you, Emiya-san"

I handed the bowl back to her. "I'm a third year at Kuoh Academy. And please call me Shirou."

She caught the bowl and said. "Thank you."

"Shirou-sempai is great." Hyoudou said. "Buchou tried to recruit him, but couldn't for some reason."

"Really? I hadn't heard anything about being recruited. By Buchou you mean Rias, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, she said-" He got to this point and his face froze. "I mean... I heard... I mean..." He started to stammer, eyes going wide as saucers.

"Don't worry. If she wants something with me she'll come someday." I said, waving him off. Whatever he was now, he was bound to Rias. I looked back at the Sister, Asia, that was looking between the two of us with a confused face, so I explained for her benefit. "He's part of a club at school and his Buchou apparently wants to recruit me."

"Oh, I see." She answered, but had a complicated look on her face.

A few more minutes, Hyoudou finished his bowl, and put it back on the table. "Thanks for the food."

I nodded to him and continued to drink my tea. Not a minute later, Asia too was finished. She put both her hands together and prayed. "We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits, O Almighty God, who livest and reignest world without end. Amen."

Again Hyoudou, I mean Ise, seemed to pale a little, but shook his head a moment later and it was gone, so I didn't comment on it. "You know how to get to the church, Asia-chan?" I asked, gathering the bowls and cups from the table.

She put both hands on her lap, looked down and shook her head. "Unfortunately, I don't."

"Don't worry, Sempai. I can take her there." Ise said from his side. "I mean, I was going to anyway."

I eyed him, analyzing his face. "I don't know if I can trust you alone with cute girl like Asia-chan."

He seemed offended by my remark, and for the life of me I couldn't tell if it was faked or not. "Hey, I already promised Asia-chan that I would take her there before you appeared."

I looked at him for a moment and relented. "Very well, I leave her to you." I looked at the sister. "Are you okay with that Asia-chan?"

The girl looked between the two of us for a moment, before nodding. It was somewhat stuttered tough. I don't know why exactly but it had probably something to do with pervert in my room, so I couldn't be blamed for feeling my trust in Ise slip a little. "If you want, I can take you there and leave the pervert tied to a pole outside. Or at the Police Station."

"Oi!" The pervert made himself heard.

"No, Issei-san is kind." She shook her head vehemently. "I have no problem with him going there with me."

"Kind? Him?" I asked disbelieving. Either she was trying very hard to see the best in people or she was naive beyond belief. Worst of all, I think it was both. "That's a first."

"Oi!" The pervert again.

"Yes. He's very kind. The same as you, Shirou-san." She bowed to me. "Thank you for the meal, but I have to get to the church before nightfall."

I nodded. "Okay. No problem." I said smiling at the sister, then I turned to Ise, still smiling, but more of a predatory grin that was quickly fading into something more feral. "If I discover that anything happened with her, if even a stray wind blow a leaflet on her face, I'll hunt you down and hold you personally responsible, are we clear?" I started talking normally, but by the end I was looming over the boy.

"A-ah..." He stamered.

"Are! We! Clear?" I asked again, punctuating every word with a finger on his chest.

"Clear! Crystal! No need to worry! She'll get there perfectly well and safe! I promise!" He said all in one breath.

"Good. Otherwise I would have to sick Himejima on you after I'm finished." He paled at the implication. Good, it seems that he already realizes that one of the big Onee-samas of Kuoh isn't all there in the head. I leaned back from my position and turned to the girl while the two of them got up themselves. "I would offer you an aftermeal tea, but then it would get too late for you, Asia-chan."

"Don't worry. Thank you very much for the meal, Shirou-san. May the Lord bless your kindness." She said to me, while bowing and I heard Hyoudou hitch his breath. When I turned to him he was grimacing again. One time is an occurence, two is a coincidence, three is confirmation. This didn't bode well, but I still didn't know what that meant for me. Or for him.

"Let's go, Asia-chan." He rushed her to the door. "Thank you for the meal, Sempai. See you Monday."

I nodded at the pervert, then smiled at the girl. "If you ever need anything, anything at all, you know where to find me."

"Yes. Have a good evening, Shirou-san." She smiled at me and turned to walk to the street.

"Good evening, Asia-chan. See ya, Ise." I bid my goodbyes for the two and turned back to my apartment. I had do the dishes now.

And had to go grocery shopping again.

Crap.

* * *

Sunday was a day off from school, and since I wasn't in any of the clubs, I couldn't weasel my way into the campus for some quality time with the tomes that I couldn't read without Kusaka anyway. So, I finished my homework during the morning and left in the afternoon, intent of doing what I hadn't been able to do yesterday, because of my encounter with the little nun. Find where the Fallen Angels were holed up on.

I was almost certain that they would be up in the same area where the church was, but I doubted that they would be in the church itself. It didn't add up for creatures that were cast out of heaven to be able to stay on holy grounds. Then again, if they were cast out of heaven, but didn't go directly to hell, maybe they were more akin to humans in that they didn't suffer any negative or positive effects from the blessings the church would provide.

I was almost at the church, without sensing anything particularly different about the place when I heard a yelp in a voice that I heard for the first time not too long ago. In fact, it was only yesterday, coming from a behind a bush.

I frowed and walked in the direction of the bush, only to realize that the bush itself seemed to be moving. "Okay, I know this universe is weird, but that is too much." I muttered to myself and started following the moving shrub.

Not even twenty feet later, I heard another yelp, and a mess of blonde hair peeking out of the foliage. I almost burst out laughing, but didn't when I realized that the girl had hit her head on a elletric pole, while walking blindly, and was holding her head with both hands instead of... whatever she was holding to keep the bush covering her body.

Good thing this part of town was deserted, otherwise I don't think she would be able to walk so much without anyone raising a fuss. I got near her and said. "Good morning, Asia-chan."

Both hands that were holding her head froze along with the rest of her body, then her head started to creak to the side to look at me, but since she was crouching, and I was standing, her line of sight came to my knees.

After apparently realizing that no, it wasn't a pair of knees that had talked to her, but the owner of said knees, her head started to creak up. And up. And up. And up some more, until she fell on her butt before being able to look up at my face. I decided at that point to cut the girl some slack and crouched down, before repeating. "Good morning, Asia-chan."

Her eyes were wide, and she looked at me like she was seeing a ghost. "G-G-G-G-" She tried to stammer, but couldn't get out anymore than that.

I offered her my hand so she could get up. "Here."

She looked at my hand, then at me, then blinked once, twice, before looking at my hand again and finally realized that she had to do something in this situation. "Ah, good m-morning, Shirou-san." Then she reached for my hand and took it. "Thank you."

After pulling her gently to her feet, I waited for her to smooth the wrinkles in her robe and remove the foliage that was strewn about. "Were you playing some game, Asia-chan?" I had to ask. She looked like the type of person that would be roped into playing with some mischievuous kids. I could almost see the how the entire conversation would go.

"What? No." She whipped her head up so fast and answered so loudly that I flinched. "I mean, no. I was not playing." She said again, taking control of her voice. For some reason, she was still smoothing over the lower part of her robe.

"I see, then why were you walking around while hiding yourself inside this?" I said, pointing to the collection of leafs, twigs and moss that she was still in the middle of.

She blushed for some reason. "I-I-I..." For every time she said 'I' her face got redder and redder, until her eyes started to swirl.

I frowned at that, worried. "Are you okay, Asia-chan?"

"No. No. I mean, yes. Yes. I'm okay." She answered, coming back down a bit from wherever she was. "The reason I was walking around like this..." She started in a normal tone of voice that got smaller and smaller until I had to lean in to continue hearing, only for hear to end with a loud "Shopping!"

I pulled my head back immediately. "Shopping?"

"Yes. Shopping, I need to go shopping." The red on her face didn't subside and she continued to smooth out her robe.

"Okay...?" I had no answer to that. "But I still don't understand why are you going shopping while..." I paused as I fished for the right word. "camouflaged?"

The red on her face didn't have anywhere up to go anymore, so started to descend to her neck. "B-B-Because I-I-I didn't anyone to see me..."

One eyebrow in my face traveled up. "Why? What are you going to buy?"

She said something that definetely started with a 'P', but I have no idea what.

"Sorry, could you say that again?"

Again, a word that started with a 'P', and I was lying earlier. I definitely knew what she said, but my brain refused to acknowledge. "I'm sure I'm going to regret asking, but could you repeat one more time."

"...panties..." She said and I swear that althought her voice was even lower than before I heard clearly.

I plowed forward, forcing myself to acknowledge that yes, the sister was trying to go panty shopping while hiding inside a bush. Even then a single question came out of my mouth anyway. "Why?"

"I don't have any anymore. They disappeared." Again, voice so low I almost needed to Reinforce my hearing.

"How could your panties-" I started but then a dark thought came to my mind. I had left her yesterday with the pervert. I knew he was a pervert, but I left him go with her anyway because her face told that she would be fine. How could I be so stupid. This girl was too naive. There was no way that she should have left with him. I shouldn't have allowed it. "I'm going to beat that pervert until he's almost dead. Then I'll nurse him back to full health then beat him again, then chop his junk, cauterize it, hogtie him and find a way to leave him inside a Jail House with a note saying 'I'm a pervert, please molest me'."

I was about to turn heel and walk in the direction of the school, not even realizing that he probably wasn't there, when the sister hand left the robe that she was still smothing over, and held my shirt. When I turned back to her she was looking at me, bewildered. If by my words, or by my actions, I have no idea. "No. It wasn't Issei-san."

"Then who? Just tell who did this, and he's dead by time you finish your sentence. I'll bring him skewered in a holy sword, if need be." I said fuming. Who in their right mind- scratch that, whoever did this doesn't have a mind. It's a beast.

She let go of my shirt and looked down. "I don't know." She said.

"You don't know?" She nodded. "How did that happen?"

"Yesterday, when I was going to clean myself, I found that there were no panties inside my baggage." She said again and the red in her face could almost be called atomic. She finally let go of my shirt and gone back to smooth over her robe.

I replayed the events of yesterday quickly in mind and only now realized that there was really no panties when I gathered her things. That's why her clothes were all over the alley, those perverts must have gone through them and stole them. Seriously, what is it with this city? How come all of these perverts come out crawling out of the woodwork only when there is a victim? I guess Rias has the right idea in using Himejima as bait for these lowlifes. I actually feel a bit sorry for them, now that I know the girl better. Not much, mind you. If I could, I would just point her in their direction and find popcorn and a seat to enjoy the show.

"I see." I said after a moment. "I'm sorry I didn't realize that."

"No, don't worry, Shirou-san. I'm okay, I just need to go buy a few to replace all of them."

"Okay. What I still don't understand is why are you using the shubbery to walk around. Why do you want to hide what you are doing? It's perfectly normal. And quite frankly, even if it wasn't, your choice of hiding place is terrible for this job."

She blushed again. "I- don'thaveany." She said so fast that I had trouble parsing the sentence. Then it hit me. The way she was blushing non-stop. The way she was smoothing over her robe ever since she got up.

I stopped my train of thought at that point forcefully. She was just smoothing over her robe because it was wrinkled. Yes. Smoothing over. I refuse to admit that she has her hands there for any other reason. I refuse to ackowledge that the little Sister was out in the streets going commando.

...

Damn it.

"Okay." I coughed in my hand. "I'll go with you to the store." After a pause I realized what I said, and had to resist the urge to facepalm.

She looked at me with a face so full of hope that I almost cringed. This girl was way too pure. It was a crime that she had to go through all of this just because some perverts had decided that her underwear was good enough substitute and stole them.

I swear, I'll find those bastards and tie them both naked to the support beams below a bridge in a river full of piranhas.

For now though, I had to accompany the girl to the store.

In a series of events that my brain had the decency of glossing over and made me feel like time skipped to a few hours later, I was sitting at a hamburguer joint, watching the little Nun eyes lit up with excitment at her first taste of fastfood. It almost enough to make me feel like the last hours were only some kind of twisted lucid dream that someone else was controlling and I was helpless but to watch the events unfold in front of me.

All of that though felt base compared to the joy the blonde in front of me exuded. It was like a kid in a candy store, except the candy was life and the store was the world. From what I could understand from our conversations today and yesterday, she led a very sheltered life, being a Nun since she could remember, so she didn't know almost anything about the outside world.

I first noticed when she was looking in wonder to one of those billboards that advertised three different products and changed images in a set interval. At first I thought she was interested in the products themselves, but that didn't make much sense. One of them was make-up, so one could forgive me for thinking it was normal for a girl her age to look at things like that, but she kept the same attention when the billboard circled to one about a concert of a Rock And Roll band that would happen in a few weeks in a neighbooring town. When the same attention was paid to an advertisement of a hair growth medicine, I knew something was wrong.

When I asked her what she was looking at, she looked down immediatelly and sputtered something unintelligible, and refused to look at it again. It took me some time to coax an answer out of her, but when she answered it wasn't anything I could expect, not that I was expecting anything at the moment. I was dumbfounded. She was trying to understand how the images changed that way since it wasn't a monitor.

I laughed at that. She blushed harder, before sputtering something else. After that, I just took her on a stroll around downtown, and whenever I noticed that she was looking at something with more than passing curiosity I slowed down or stopped depending on the situation and encouraged her to continue watching whatever that caught her attention. Slowly she started to open up, and before long she wasn't shying away anymore when she noticed that I was looking at her.

It was an incredible feeling, watching her as she watched the world around us. All the emotions that ran through her face. While she did ask me about some things, the majority of the time she was trying to figure it out on her own. I'm sure she must have come to a whole bunch of conclusions completely wrong, but if she didn't ask me about it, I let her be. Now I knew why she reminded so much of Illya. If Kiritsugu had his way, before he died, maybe that was the feeling I would have with her. Illya too was sheltered beyond belief, and the only thing I ever got from her was murderous intent or innocent indifference, but I'm sure it would be something like this, had things happened just a little differently.

After about two hours of walking around, I heard the same rumble from yesterday and looked down at my blonde companion and offered her to eat at my house again. She refused this time, so instead I took advantage that we were in front of a fastfood restaurant and invited her to it.

She was torn between going back to the church and continue her tour of town with me. In the end, the smells of the place and her own stomach won over. Once inside, I realized that she had never eaten anything similar either, so I decided to pick a simple hamburger with soda for her.

Amusingly, she said that the soda burned her tongue.

All in all, it was an enjoyable day I spent with the little Sister, but she had to return, so I accompanied her to the same place where I had found her earlier. Only this time, when we were about to part, a man I didn't recognize, wearing what appear to be a butler uniform, of all things, turned up.

He looked at me, then at Asia and said. "Asia, where have you gone? We spent a lot of time looking for you." The tone of his voice was caring, but at the same time chastising. To anyone looking it would seem like a father calling for their daughter, but I didn't buy for a second. This was a Fallen Angel. This was a creature.

But, as I had promised Rias, I couldn't really simply antagonize the man. For one, Asia seemed to know him, and two there wasn't any of the killing intent that I received from Raynare last week, only loathing. So maybe there were good people among the Fallen Angels. Well, good was stretching it. At least not murderous beasts. After all, Rias and Shitori and their groups were also some kind of magical beings, and from what I could gleam over their interactions, some of their own weren't so good too. So maybe I just had the bad luck of run into one of the worst specimens of their species and judged every single one of them from there.

I still didn't buy any of that, though. My gut told me that I shouldn't trust this guy. Not because of what he was but because of the way he acted. But Asia hadn't made any move to hide from him. She hadn't made any move to run away either, or to look at me for support, so I had to hold it in. At least, for her.

"I have to be going now, Shirou-san. May the Lord bless you in your endeavours." She prayed for me and smiled. A smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"See you later, Asia-chan." I answered, then added. "Remember. Anything you need, you know where to find me."

And then she was gone. The Fallen gave me a once over, then turned his back to me. It was a clear dismissal. I'm sure that the same way I could feel him, he could feel me as well, but he judged me inferior enough to not worry having his back turned. I looked one last time at the back of the little blonde girl when she turned the corner, and out of my sight.

Cursing, I turned and went back home. With my track record, Asia would be in trouble, if she wasn't already.

Damn it.

* * *

Monday and Tuesday progressed as much as I could expect. Classes during the day, fixing stuff for the Student Council during lunch break and spending a good portion of the afterschool hours with Kusaka, trying to find something to use on those tomes. I hadn't run into Ise since Saturday. Actually, aside from Kusaka and Shitori, I hadn't ran into any of my supernatural acquaintances the whole week.

I haven't heard anything from Asia too, but since she was just transfering to the city, it wasn't too weird. She was a Nun after all, and probably had a parish to attend to. So early in a new town she would still be reeling with all the things she would need to do. If it wasn't for the little problem she had with the theft of part of her wardrobe, I don't think I would even have seen her.

Wednesday was when I ran into Ise when I was going down the stairs, but he was looking troubled by something, and in a reversal of what happened last time, I was the one who was left in a vacuum when Kiba came and collected him, probably to take him to the Occult Research Clubroom. I looked at both of them for a moment, then shrugged, continuing my way in the direction of the library.

After school, and after another day of futile reading and listening to the explanations about spells and mystical energies that I still didn't recognize, I was going home when I was passed by Ise running full tilt down the street. I almost thought that there would be a stampede of angry girls right behind him, but what I saw was Kiba and Toujou, both with their faces set, running after the pervert. It was a weird thing to see anything aside from a blank face on Toujou's face.

Weirder still, they didn't even noticed me. Kiba at least always took the time to at least greet me when we crossed paths, but now they were running downhill faster than it should be possible for humans. Of course, I knew they weren't exactly human, but they always kept their abilities from showing in public like this. Something was up, and I didn't like that the direction they were running to was the same one where the church Asia was supposed to be.

Remember what I said about coincidences? Yeah, one in year was one too much for me. I took off after the trio, but they were already a good distance from me. Even if I was taller than them and had a greater stride, I had to Reinforce my legs to keep up with them.

After five minutes of running full speed, I was already breathing hard but they didn't seem to be worse for wear. We were getting to the church and they disappeared inside it. I took a moment to catch my breath and then decided to take a peek inside to see what the deal was with them. I hadn't even taken three steps in the direction of the door when I heard a scream.

Asia's scream.

I threw caution to the wind and rushed inside, already calling several blueprints in my mind. I hadn't called a Noble Phantasm aside Kanshou and Bakuya ever since I came to this universe, but I could still feel them, so if I needed to use one, I had no doubt that I could.

The scene that greeted me was one weirder than I imagined. Kiba was dueling with someone in a modified priest robes, and being overpowered. The priest seemed to be cackling insanely though, so maybe it was just another lunatic and was battling Kiba by sheer power of his insanity. Several bodies were strewn about the floor, and Toujou was dealing with others that were attacking her, using only her fists and feet.

No sign of Ise, though. But I caught whiff of a magical signature that I was expecting but hoping not to. Fallen Angels, down a set of stairs at the back of the church, and no sign of Asia anywhere here. I entered the place, punching a priest, that was about to hit Toujou on the back of her head, in the face, then continued running without stopping for them to acknowledge that I was even there. Knowing Toujou tough, she probably already knew.

Climbing down the stairs I caught sight of something that made my blood run cold. In an altar at the end of a mausoleum, Asia's body was chained against a cross, eyes open and unseeing, and blood pooling beneath her. In that moment I wasn't watching the Sister's body slowly bleed out. I was inside a castle while looking at a white haired little girl, who just had her heart ripped out of her chest, turn her eyes and try to say something. The voice wasn't there, the memory was somewhat blocked. But then I saw the blonde Sister walking around town with me, redfaced when she was discovered walking around inside a bush. Smiling when she saw something interesting on the street. Laughing, crying, admonishing. All the faces that I came to recognize in the short hours that we spent together. Then the scene faded back to the mausoleum. The green eyes that held so much joy in them just two, three days ago, now held nothing but the emptiness of death.

Ise was sprawled against a wall at my right, a weird red gauntlet with a green jewel covering his left forearm. I didn't have time to stop and analyse it. It wasn't a sword or bladed weapon, so in order for my ability to kick in, I needed to be trying. A voice brought me out of my musing, coming from behind Asia's position.

"Oh? A Human?" I registered the voice as male, and when I caught sight of him, I realized he was the same one that had come to pick Asia on Sunday. My blood, already cold, froze completely. He had a tuff of blonde hair in his right hand.

"A Fallen." I narrowed my eyes at him, when I heard another voice, childlike.

"A human? Let me play with him." The voice came from his right and I moved my eyes without moving an inch of my body, already flipping through blueprints in my mind. At the moment, I really wanted to use a Broken Phantasm, but I didn't want to desecrate Asia's body. Not to mention kill Ise and the other two still fighting up on the main hall of the church. Or everyone on a two hundred meter radius.

"Now, now, Miltlet. We need to take the Twilight Healing to Lord Kobakiel." Another voice. Female, older. "But we can take him with us so you can play with him later." She leered down at me from the altar. This Fallen could be called sultry in any other situation. Right now, my entire focus was on their energies, and they didn't even compare to Raynare.

Worse still, these three Fallen Angels had the same signatures that I have felt in the city. "I have only one question. Are you the ones who killed Asia?"

"Yes. It was them, Sempai." To my surprise it was Ise that answered. He was trying to get up from his position. "Get out of here, Sempai. They are too strong. I'll deal with them." In any other situation I would commend him for his bravery. Right now, I was too pissed to even register anything else.

"Good. That's all that I needed to know." I traced Kanshou and Byakuya. "Now I know who I need to kill."

Ise started, while looking at me. Then at my swords. He was about to say something else, when one of the creature's voice came from the altar again. "Hooh." The only seemingly male said. "Sword Birth?" Again this? By the Root, what the hell is Sword Birth? File it away for later. "But no." He frowned. "You're not Gremory's Knight. You are still human." He turned to me fully. "Who are you?"

I wasn't feeling like bantering with these creatures, so I pointed Kanshou at him. "Your executioner."

They were about to laugh and sneer at me when the male had to dodge the edge of Bakuya that I had thrown at him. I didn't expect it to hit anyway, just to throw him off balance a little. I took off after my sword, while retracing another copy of Bakuya. "You pesky human."

The three of them formed light spears and aimed them at me. At this moment I realized that I wouldn't get in melee range before they could throw the spears at me, so I aborted my rush and jumped back dismissing my swords and cartwheeling. "Trace Overedge." I called, retracing both swords in my hands into their more broken forms, before pumping as much Od as I could into them and throwing them at the feet of the three Fallen. The three either thought that I missed my throw or dismissed the swords as of no consequence to them. Well, too bad. They exploded on contact with the ground and the light effectivelly blinded them.

"What the-" I heard the loli start to say but it was cut off by the explosion and the light that the Noble Phantasm produced.

I started tracing a bow in my hands. One of the strongest bows I had in my Marble. It was calling to me. It was gift from the Flame God Agni to Arjuna, son of Kunti, King of Gods of Indra, the one called the Awarded Hero. It is said that this bow can't be used by a human, that would kill any that ever held it. But right now it was wanting to be used against these foul creatures. Its will too was recorded in the Marble and it recognized when a just cause needed to be fought. I knew at that moment that as soon as I called it that I could use it. "Agni Gandiva." A divine weapon was difficult to trace. All the memories I had from Archer said that it was impossible, actually. It didn't matter for me. It was calling me, wanting to be used. Wanting to deal the finishing blow to at least one of these demons who forgot to shed their feathers.

And who am I to say no to a Divine Weapon.

Before I was even set on the ground again, I already had the bow in my hands and an arrow nooked. When I was about to land on the ground, I pulled the blue energy string of the bow and aimed at the mass of energy that was dispersing from my earlier attack. I didn't need to see the target I was aiming. All I needed to do is feel his energy. In Kyudo, most people only really aim when they are in the 'Kai' form, the full draw of the string. Contrary to them, I had already aimed during 'Monomi' stage of 'Yugamae', the readying of the bow. The moment my feet touched the ground again I released my arrow. It caught in flames immediately. At the same moment that the brightness faded, my arrow pierced the Fallen Angel's heart, passing through him and embebbing itself on the marble wall behind him.

The other two hadn't even realized that their companion didn't have a heart anymore when I dismissed the bow and traced Kanshou and Bakuya again. The spears that they had produced earlier where positioned to be thrown one more time. I entered my stance with both swords, prepared to deflect the spears, but before they threw them at me, a thump resounded between the two of them. It was the other Fallen's body, finally realizing that it didn't have a ribcage housing a heart anymore and giving up its fight against gravity.

I waited this lull in the fight to finish preparing the blueprints of the swords on their blind sides. "Trace bullet." When the older Fallen turned to me to shout something, I finished. "Fire!" I didn't shout my command. Simply stated.

And just like that it was over. Both Fallen's bodies were riddled with swords from all sides. They were all nameless swords, but against these creatures, they seemed to be more than enough. I took a shuddering breath, waiting to see if they would, better yet could, try anything else, but everything suggested that that was it.

I walked calmly in the direction of the bodies, and looked at their comtemptible faces, before dismissing all the swords I had traced except for Kanshou, turning back to Asia's body. I used the falchion to cut the chains that held her against the cross, and caught her when she fell. I knelt down with her in my arms and shook my head. "I'm sorry." I breathed out. "If only I could have gotten here faster, this wouldn't have happened to you." I put a hand over her face and closed her still open eyes, before craddling her body in my arms.

Ise was still there, but had his eyes widened and jaw agape. He didn't say anything and the jewel on his gauntlet was blinking non-stop. I only took one look at him, and started going back up the steps that I came from.

I had another victim that I couldn't save to bury.

I hadn't known the little Nun for much time. Heck, I didn't know her, period. I saved her from a pair of perverts only to let her die to these monsters days later.

When I finished coming up the stairs I saw Kiba sitting on one of the pews and Toujou who seemed to be gearing herself to come in the direction of the steps. I looked at them and shook my head. "I was too late. I'm sorry."

Right now, all I want to do is hunt down every single Fallen in existence. I don't care anymore if some of them were good. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and Asia was the one who had to pay the price. No more. I get a whiff of a Fallen, and they are dead. No questions, no explanations, no quarter.

I'm furious.

"Shirou." A voice I didn't expect brought me out of my reverie. Rias was standing at the entrance of the church, Himejima right beside her. They too had came. "What happened here?" She asked me, cautiously.

I smiled bitterly at my benefactor. "They killed Asia." A tear rolled down my face, and I lowered my eyes to the body of the girl I was craddling. "And I was too late to do anything to stop them."

It was the story of my life, really. I was too late to save Illya. I was too late to realize that Shinji was a scumbag. Too late to realize that my ideals were flawed.

Somehow the redhead appeared beside me, cupping a hand on my face. It was only then that I realized that she had bat-like wings on her back. Was she a succubus then? Or maybe a demon after all? It didn't really matter to me at the moment, because the empathy I saw on her face wasn't something that could be faked. "You didn't know. You couldn't know."

"I should have at least warned Asia. I already knew about Raynare. I felt those things roaming around the city. I should have done something. I should have killed them the moment they appeared in front of me. But..." I took a breath to try and steady myself a little. "But I didn't. I-I failed again. I left my doubts about the rules of this universe override my gut feeling. I shouldn't have. I shouldn't..."

My heart couldn't accept. I knew that the Fallen Angels were on this church, or at least near it. My instincts told me that they weren't good people. I should have known that they would do something to the little Sister. I should have realized-

"Don't beat yourself over what's done, Shirou." Rias pulled my head to her chest. It was only then that I realized that at some point I had knelt down while holding the blonde's body. "Even if you knew, who can say that she would have believed in you? It's impossible for you to know everything. You're only human, after all."

The way she said 'human' was different from the way the creatures down there had said it. They said with contempt. She said with compassion. It was a reversal of roles that gave a little vertigo over the situation. Here I was, being conforted about the loss of a victim that I could have protected, inside a church, a holy ground, by a... Succubus? Harpy? The detached side of my mind had always told me that in war there were always going to be victims. I knew that my ideals would always drive me to find more and more of these, but that side of me sounded so much like Archer that I never gave any weight to its words, and it was in times like these that it liked to remember me about its existence with the sublety of a sledgehammer.

"I may be able to do something about her." Rias voice came from somewhere above my head suddenly, and I stiffened. In a flash the memory of Ise's death came to my mind, and I pulled my head back to look at her in the face. "But as you can see, she'll not be human anymore, same as all of us."

I looked at her, then at Toujou, who was staring at me blankly, then at Kiba, who was grimacing, to Himejima, whose smile for once didn't seem to hide anything besides sympathy, to Ise who simply looked clueless, then back at Asia's body. It was starting to grow cold, and her already pale face was getting paler. I embraced her tightly again, then put her down on the ground, taking three steps back.

Whatever Rias was, at least I knew that she wasn't as bad as those creatures down there. What was that saying again. Power isn't bad, is what you do with it? Something like that, I think. Even if she was a demon, or a succubus, or whatever, she had already demonstrated that she cared about her friends a great deal and she would treat Asia well.

I sat on one of the pews that was still intact after the brawl that broke out in here and watched as the crimson haired supernatural being started to chant something. I couldn't hear from where I was sitting, nor did I care to Reinforce my hearing to listen to what she was saying. A chess piece appeared on her hand, a Bishop, if I'm not mistaken, and it floated from her hand to Asia's chest and then into her chest.

A few moments passed and I thought that maybe whatever she was doing had been too late. That she had been dead for too long and what Rias was doing wouldn't be enough to work. I lowered my head, feeling miserable. Why had I gotten my hopes up? There's no easy way to-

I was cut out of my musings by a sharp intake of air and looked at the little Nun that was still on the floor. Some of the color had returned to her face. It was still pale, but it was better than she was a minute ago. I breathed in relief and slouched back on the pew. It worked. Thanks to whatever higher power existed in this world, it worked. I closed my eyes, leaning my head back, finally letting the adrenaline that was going in my veins run its course.

I must have been in that position for almost a minute, before someone touched me on the shoulder. "Sempai." I cracked my eyes open to look at Ise. The boy had been brave, or foolish depending on the point of view, to charge inside that place and try to fight against those beasts.

"Yes?" I answerer him, while he looked at me with something akin to wonder in his eyes.

"Who are you, Sempai, really? You feel human, but you are so strong. How could you do all those things down there? From where did you take that bow, or those swords, or-" He was asking way too many question too fast, and didn't even realize.

"Calm down, Ise." Rias admonished her underclassmen. "Let him explain. One question at a time."

He looked at her sheepishly for a moment. "Sorry, Buchou." Then turned back to me. "Who are you really, Sempai?"

"Emiya Shirou, Third Year at Kuoh Academy and someone who lost his way home." I answered him. When I saw Rias frown, I felt that I was enough indebted with her to reveal a little more. "I live in this region. Or at least, somewhere that should be in this region. Out back there" I said pointing behind the church grounds "was supposed to be a cemetery where my father was buried. The place where Kuoh Academy is right now, I remember being a Shinto Temple. Where my school was, now is a department store. Where my house was, there's nothing, and its a private property with a lot of woods. My ex-girlfriend's house is a hole in the ground, where they were building a condo but stopped, for some reason. Where my friend's house was supposed to be there's an artificial canal that collects the rain and takes it to the river that cuts the city. Nothing here is where it's supposed to be. And I'm not where I should be."

The redhead frowned, then bit her lip, trying to piece together the information I just gave her. "How long ago was that? How come things changed so much? In so little time?" Rias asked. "Are you sure you are not a time-traveler?"

"No, I'm sure I'm not." I rubbed both hands on my face, before lowering them. "Look, here's not the best place to talk. Can we go somewhere else, please?"

She looked at me for a moment then nodded. I got up from my place and walked to Asia's body, I mean, to Asia. She was breathing again. "Did it work?" Even then I had to ask.

"Yes. She's part of my Peerage now." The girl answered, with a small smile on her face, directed at the sleeping Nun.

I snorted. "So that's the real meaning behind Peerage, huh?" I commented lightly, smiling at her and she blushed. Then I knelt down and caught the Sister's sleeping form and shifted her into my back. "Well, lead the way."

* * *

Half an hour later, I had put Asia down on one of the couches of the Occult Research Clubroom and was sitting with her head on my lap, tracing my fingers absently through her hair. Rias was sitting on the couch directly across from me, Ise on one side of her and Himejima, after she had prepared tea for me, herself and Rias, sat on the other. Toujou had claimed the seat on my other side while I patted her head as well and Kiba was leaning against the wall beside the door.

Ise was practically bouncing on his seat. "So, tell me, Sempai. How come you are so strong? How can I become as strong as you? What do I need to do?"

Win a war against several heroes of legend while you are still on your teens, seemed appropriate, but of course I didn't say that. Actually, before I could formulate a proper answer, Himejima cut me off. "What Ise-kun wants to know, is how did you defeat three Fallen without a scratch on you."

"Honestly..." I thought about for second then continued. "with rage." Then I looked down at the Sister still sleeping, and smiled tenderly. "A loooot of rage." The thought of losing Asia had driven so mad that it almost felt like I had lost Illya all over again. The image of Gilgamesh over the body of my estranged sister for a moment juxtaposed itself over the male Fallen. "Do you know why they killed her?"

Rias bit her lower lip, before nodding. "It was a ritual, to remove her Sacred Gear. A Sacred Gear is tied to the owner's Soul, so in order to remove it..." She trailed off, but I got the gist. They had to kill her to be able to tamper with her soul and get the Sacred Gear, but since Ise and I crashed the party, they didn't have enough time to do anything.

Was her Sacred Gear so valuable that they wanted whatever the cost? I think I wouldn't like the answer for that question. The way these Fallen operated reminded me too much of some of the most unescrupulous Magi that were affiliated with the Clock Tower. "What happens with her now?"

"Now... Now she's part of my Peerage. She's a Devil, like the rest of us." A Devil. Huh. I guess I'm numbed enough by the events of the day that I didn't even care enough about the revelation of what she was. Weird, weren't Devils supposed to go after the Souls of humans? But here she brought Asia's back without robbing it from her. Guess there's another thing that is somewhat different in this universe. Or maybe Rias is the exception to the rule. "You still didn't explain how exactly did you killed the three Fallen on the church. How did you do it?"

"It was awesome, Buchou." Ise interposed, excitement bubbling from the pervert. I think this is the first time that I saw the boy get so excited about something that didn't involve female breasts. "First he created swords out of thin air like handsome does, then he threw his swords at the Fallen, then his swords exploded, then he pulled a bow and arrow and shooted at the them, and the arrow caught on fire, and exploded on the guy that was in the middle, then a whole bunch of swords appeared behind them and they skewered the other two Fallen girls that weren't hit by the arrow he shot earlier. It was so fast that I didn't even had time to do anything besides gawk at him." He managed to say all that in one breath.

Seriously, I'm impressed.

"Thank you, Ise, but I wanted to know from Shirou." Rias admonished the kid.

"That..." I started, then thought for a moment and nodded. "was actually a pretty accurate account of the events."

"Swords that explode?" Himejima raised an eyebrow. "A bow that shoots arrows in flames? Swords appearing out of nowhere?"

I shrugged. "Magecraft." I said as if it answered all. It kinda did and it kinda didn't.

"You expect me to believe that you can create swords out of thin air, without a Sacred Gear?" Himejima frowned.

I sighed. A demonstration wouldn't hurt, I guess. The cat was already out of the bag anyway. I extented my hand in front of me. "Trace on." Immediatelly several swords appeared all around the room. All of them nameless, but expertly crafted, peerless blades. Not one of them equal to another.

Rias yelped and Himejima's eyes shot open. Kiba started and even Toujou's eyes widened. I count that one as a win in my book. Ise cheered, for some reason.

I snapped my fingers and all blades disappeared. "Believe me now?" I smiled at the girl and her eyes closed again, but her smile was strained at best.

Wait. Did that even count as a smile?

"I see." She said after a moment, realizing that I wasn't making things up, and what Ise had said was true. "But what about the fire arrows and exploding swords?"

Now it was my turn to frown. A demonstration was one thing, but reveal my entire hand was another. "You want me to bring those out now? In here?" I asked her the girl with a incredule tone in my voice.

Rias was the one to answer. "No. That'll not be necessary." She said quickly, before shooting an admonishing glare at the girl sitting beside her. After a moment, she turned back to me, but before she could say anything I asked.

"When you first took me in and helped me, you wanted to invite me for your Peerage too, right? Why didn't you?" I still wasn't clear on that. In light of the recent information, I could understand why she helped me in the first place. It wasn't out of the goodness of her heart, she wanted something back, but I couldn't fault her for that, now that I knew she was a Devil.

I expected several things from her. Maybe a she was waiting for me to discover her secret so she could bargain with me, or maybe she wanted time to study me so she could know me better before offering something during negotiations. What I didn't expected was for her to blush and look down. She was embarassed. "I couldn't." I raised an eyebrow at her and she started squirm on her seat. "You are too strong for me."

My other eyebrow shot up to accompany the first. "What you mean?" The question was out of my mouth before I even realized.

She looked up for a moment, then closed her eyes and nodded to herself. "Let me explain a few things, first. To start with, only High-Class Devils have the right to have a Peerage, but even then they can't recruit just anyone. For a Devil the Peerage represents themselves, so you can't have a Piece that is on par or even stronger than the Devil in question. The strongest Piece in a Peerage would be the King, but that Piece isn't used anymore. The Devil him or herself is the King following a ceremony on the Underworld. The second strongest would the Queen, but my Queen Piece I already gave to Akeno. I was waiting until I was stronger to invite you as a Bishop or maybe a Rook. But I'm still not strong enough. Even if my Queen piece wasn't already taken, it still wouldn't be enough for me to recruit you."

I hummed in response, trying to absorb that information dump. Thinking back on it, I was lucky that she wasn't strong enough, but was still hopeful that if she kept me around long enough she would be able to recruit me anyway someday. That gave enough time for me to get my feet under me after I found myself in this universe, so I could start looking for ways to go home. If she did try to recruit me at the beginning, saying that she was a Devil, I would probably have attacked her then and there. "How can you tell?"

"It's... complicated." She grimaced. "All Kings can measure the strenght of a individual in comparison to their Peerage. In your case, for example, it doesn't mean that you are stronger than me, it's just that you are too strong when compared to the rest of my Peerage." She looked at the ceiling, then back at me. "Let me try and explain another way. Some Devils use a point based system to evaluate their Peerages. In that system, a Pawn is worth a point. A Bishop and a Knight are worth each three points. A Rook, five and a Queen, nine. But those points are based on the Devil in question, so a three point Knight for me, could be evaluated as a one point pawn to another Devil, or even as six point double Bishop to a third Devil. It all depends on the strenght of the Devil in question."

"I see. So you telling me I would be evaluated as more than a five point rook for you?" I asked, somewhat pleased with that. It wasn't always that I could say that I had been being highly evaluated.

To my dismay though, she shook her head. "As I said, I don't evaluate my peerage like that. For me is more like a feeling. It varies from Devil to Devil and in my case I can't really quantify it like that." She frowned wistfully. "I don't know why but whenever I try to evaluate you, you feel different. Every single time. Sometimes you feel like a Bishop, then others as a Knight, then a Rook or even a Pawn. Or other times, like earlier today that you feel like a Over-Queen. It's frustrating."

"Over-Queen?" I had to repeat that. I never even heard of that piece in chess.

"An Over-Queen is when your evaluation is over the power where a Queen could be used on you. Using the same point system, a nine point queen couldn't be used because you are over that value. If someone tried to Reincarnate you at that moment, there would be most probably a rejection." She shuddered at that and I didn't like the tone of her voice when she said the word rejection.

"What happens when someone rejects the piece?"

She frowned thinking how to explain, then decided to be blunt apparently. "In humans, normally they become lesser devils. Mindless beings that live on instinct. But not always. Sometimes the Reincarnation is successful but the new Devil can't become part of the Peerage that the piece used on him came from. Sometimes they can also die on the spot, taking the piece with them. Or worse, if the Devil was reincarnated against his will, he can attack his King immediately. Several Kings died because of this. That's why is generally advised to only use the Evil Pieces when you are sure of your power over the new Devil or after you have negotiated with him." She grimaced. "But getting back to my earlier point, there's always some variation in power on the pieces. Just because you feel like a Knight, doesn't mean you don't have the potential to be a Rook, for example, but in your case, the variation is in a too great a scale."

Interesting. I nodded after I processed that information. "And even you bargained with me, you still would risk rejection, is that it?" She nodded. "I see." Well, not that I want to become a Devil or anything, but its good to know that at least Rias isn't going to try and force me into servitude. "What is the power a King has over his peerage? I know that you treat yours well, but I can already imagine that is necessarily a rule among your people, right?"

The redhead hung her head a little. "Yeah. There are some... unsavory Devils who make things worse for us who want to remain on the good side of the populace."

Again, I had to ask. "On the good side of the populace?"

"Yes." She pulled a pamphlet from her pocket and handed it to me. The paper reeked of prana, and it only had writen on it 'Your wish can come true' with the 'O' of 'come' stylized as an arcane circle. "We distribute these on the streets and when people want to make a wish, they summon us and we bargain with them for it."

I narrowed my eyed at her. "So if I wanted to make a wish using these you would magically appear in front of me and what? Demand my soul for it?"

She paled at that and waved both hands in front of her. "No! No! Nothing like that. Wishes that are priced that high are Wishes that we don't take normally. We generally take checks, credit, money. Depending on the wish we can also recruit the person into a Peerage, or they can pay us in services, information or helping us with other wishes. If we can't realize the wish, then the bargain fails. That's the worst thing that can happen, because we spend energy to go to the place where the wisher is, and if it comes to nothing..." She sighed. "But when a contract is realized, then we will do everything in our power to fullfil the wish."

I raised an disbelieving eyebrow. Money and credit? Seriously? What's wrong with this universe? Then I looked at the paper again and it hit me. More specifically at the magic circle. It was actually ingenious. If these didn't exist, then the only people that could summon the Devils would be Magi or people who had some knowledge of Formalcraft to design the magic circle. With the pamphlet, they could reach even people who were normal and just had a wish that they wanted to realize.

And all the while, human nature kicks in. The more they rely on the Devils, the more they would fall to one of the Seven Deadly sins. By the end of it, they wouldn't have anything to offer the Devils in question beside their already tainted soul. It was a worrying thought, but it all came down to free will in the end. Then I realized another thing. "Is that why you were running downtown last Saturday?" I asked Ise.

"Yeah. I had a client to visit, but since I'm still not strong enough to go via magic circle, so I had to go all the way there." Ise said scratching the back of his head, sheepshly.

Strong enough, huh? True, Ise's presence was less than the others, but it was still noticeable. Which brings me to another point. "Another thing I don't get is that you keep saying that you are all Devils, but why is it that the energy I feel from you while dark is not demonic?"

It was Rias' turn to look at me perplexed. "What do you mean?"

"I already told you that I can feel the magical signature of everything around me, right?" She nodded. "I've been exposed to demonic energy, malice and other unsavory energies before, and it's completely different from what I feel from you guys."

"That doesn't make sense." She produced a ball of black energy on her hand. "Here, can you feel this?"

"Yeah. It's the same feeling I always have from you normally." I frowned, then held my hand in the air. "Trace on." The demonic spear of Cú Chulainn formed in my hand. I felt its weight and bloodthirst even before I had finished tracing it. This spear had bathed in the blood of countless warriors, and even mine too. "This is the demonic energy that I'm used to."

All of them scooted back as far as the couches could let them, even Ise was backing away from me, but the greatest reaction was from Toujou who jumped from her position, over Rias and hid behind the other couch. I looked at them, then at the spear, then back at them again. I blinked at their reaction, and dismissed the spear.

"What the hell was that?!" Kiba was the one who voiced what was on the faces of everyone present. His normal cool attitude completely forgotten, while he breathed hard. Come to think of it, everyone was breathing hard, even Asia, while she didn't open her eyes, had squirmed in my lap.

"That was Gae Bolg, the demonic spear of the Hound of Ireland, Cú Chulainn." I answered nonplussed. Normally I wouldn't explain what the Noble Phantasm was to anyone but I had to make a point.

"That was insane." Ise said, pulling himself upright again.

"No wonder I couldn't recruit you." Rias said. "If you have a weapon so powerful, I think only an Ultimate-class devil would be able to."

I scratched my cheek sheepshily. "Actually, that's just one of the weapons I can Trace."

She looked at me with something in between fear and wonder. "And how many of those you can... Trace, was it?"

I grimaced. "Let me put it this way. I can recreate any bladed weapon or other simple objects I have seen, but with blades, only a glimpse is enough for me to recreate it perfectly. Blades carried by legendary heroes, and blades carried by squires wet behind the ears. If a blade has a legend, odds are I can trace it, and I saw a lot blades being used in battle." I smiled bitterly at that. "Anyway, that is the demonic energy that I am used to, what you guys have, I don't have a name for it, and while its dark, I can't classify as demonic."

"That..." Rias started, but her speech faltered.

"It wasn't the demonic energy that we have, but it was very ominous." Himejima commented, while her expression changed to something that I couldn't quite place. It was a mix of eagerness with caution and little bit of fear, as well. "Too ominous, in fact."

"What about holy weapons?" Kiba asked, almost cutting off the girl.

I looked at him, then grimaced. "I have those too, but now that I saw how you guys reacted to Gae Bolg, I'm affraid of what bringing out an holy sword might do."

He too grimaced but nodded. Rias picked up again. "How come you have seen so many blades? Where in the name of the Maous did you saw weapons like that one? How come did you survive going to so many battles were weapons like these were used?"

I sighed exhasperately, pondering about what to tell. In the end, I decided that if I tried to explain in terms of this universe, I might be misunderstood, so I began telling them the truth. "Ten years or so ago, where I came from, there was a War. It was called the Holy Grail War. It was a battle royale that pitted several different Magi against one another with the Grail as the prize. The Grail was said to be able to grant any wish you wanted, but it needed to be powered first by the energy of a Servant. Each Magus could summon a Servant, a hero of legend, that were enhanced by the powers of the Grail itself, and would refer to the Magus who summoned them as Master. Anyway, when a Servant battled they would use their signature weapons. And since a Servant needed a Master to remain on the war, it was a common tactic to target enemy Masters." I unbuttoned the shirt of my uniform. "Gae Bolg, the spear that you just saw, did this to me." I showed them the weblike mark that the spear left on my chest. "I only survived because another Magus decided to help me. But then, only because they thought that I wasn't a Master at the time."

I could see they making the connections with why did I have the spear, and with what I had already said about being able to reproduce them.

"After the end of the War, I continued to travel around the world as a Bounty Hunter, trying to help people, but that only lead me to more battles." I smiled bitterly again. Thinking about it, my life was following Archer's footsteps too much. I... don't know what that says about me.

"Wait. You participated in this Holy Grail War ten years ago, right? Who sends a kid to a war like that? You don't look older than any of us, and you are human." Then she too looked uncertain. "At least, you feel human."

I scowled. "That's the other part of my problem. I may not look it, but I have at least ten years on everyone here, I think. Unless you Devils are older than you look too."

They shook their heads, and I sighed. "What do you mean, ten years on us?" Himejima, who was the only one who didn't shake her head, asked. If that meant that she was older, or simply that she didn't acknowledged the question I don't know.

"The accident that brought me here. It was an experiment of the Second Magic using a Mystic Code powered by the Fifth Magic as a catalyst. What happened exactly I don't know, but when I woke up here, I looked like this."

"Second Magic?" The black haired girl parroted.

"Mystic Code?" The redhead continued.

I could only sigh again. "I explained what Magecraft is already right?"

"Anything that can be accomplished by mundane means is considered Magecraft. No matter how time consuming or improbable, if technically possible to be created, is considered Magecraft." Rias repeated my explanation.

"Yes. Look, I need you all to promise me that whatever I'm about to say, never leaves this room. Even if your lives depends on it. Actually, they can depend on it if this becomes known. Can you guys promise me?"

The redhead raised her right hand. "I, Rias Gremory, heir of the House Gremory of the Seventy-Two Pillars, and by extension my Peerage, hereby promise that anything and everything convened in this room henceforth will not be divulged, discussed or acknowledged after this meeting is over, aside with the people already within it."

I chuckled. She could just say 'I promise' and I would have believed her. Whatever. "Thanks." I paused. "Circling back to Magecraft and its definition. What about things that can't be accomplished by normal, mundane means, that are impossible doesn't matter what we do? Those are what we call Sorceries. There's only five known sorceries, and three of them have been lost already." I thought about how to explain this to them, but gave up. "Long story short, the experiment that I was unwittingly a part of involved combining elements of the Second Magic, operation of parallel worlds, and a Mystic Code, an artefact enchanted with the Fifth Magic, operation of time non-linearly."

"Parallel worlds?! You came from a parallel world?" Rias asked, eyes widening and glittering. She looked like a little kid on christmas morning that just discovered that Santa has passed through there during the night. Had she forgotten already that I said that I wasn't from this dimension? Well, maybe dimension has another connotation in this world?

"Yes. But all of that is conjecture at this point, but I think the reason I look like a teenager is probably because of whatever Rin used on the experiment." Then I frowned. "I'm almost certain, though. There were no other elements on it." Then shook it off. "Probably why I ended up here in the first place too. This city, Kuoh Town, in my world is called Fuyuki City, and it's layout is completely different from here. Everything I said on the church is true. That's also the reason why I've been spending so much time in the library ever since I came here. I need to find a way to send a message home so someone can come and get me."

"You can't travel between parallel worlds yourself, then?" Himejima asked.

"No, I can't. The Second Magic is something only a single person is able to use completely, and he spends most of his time traveling between parallel worlds, so its rare for him to even appear back home. He's been coming more lately, but that's only because he took my friend as an apprentice. And even with all the training she has been receiving from him, she can't use it yet on her own. At least, not without the aid of the Kaleido Stick, and even then her range is limited to a few mapped universes, and I know this one isn't one of them. I don't have any hope of repeating the feat of a four hundred year old Magus in a few months, but if I can at least send a signal, something like 'Hey, I'm here', maybe they'll pick it up and home in on me." I ran a hand through my hair, while sighing. "Its been more than six months and no sign of them, so I can't take the passive approach anymore. I can't expect them to find me on their own."

"I see." Then her eyes lit up again. "Oh! That's why you don't have anything registered on your name anywhere." Rias nodded to herself.

"Yeah." I nodded. There was no way that they would find anything about me in this universe. For one, there's no Mage Association. Without it, the Einzberns wouldn't have a lineage of Magi, consequently there would be no expedition to find the Holy Grail. Without the expedition there wouldn't be a Grail War, or a fire at the end of the Fourth War that sealed the fate of a five year old boy to become Emiya Shirou in that universe. There was probably a counterpart for me somewhere around this universe, but his name wouldn't be 'Emiya Shirou', and he would probably never even have heard of Magecraft.

Maybe.

There was a silence in the room. Everyone digesting the information received. Thinking back, Rias being a Devil was probably why she appropriated the Occult Research Clubroom in the first place. It's a good front for whatever normal people may think about their activities late during the night. Their contracts was probably the reason why I have ran into them several times.

I looked back down at Asia, and remembered something that I probably should have thought of earlier. "What happens if Asia doesn't want to be part of your Peerage? Can the process be reverted?" The redhead grimaced at my question.

Rias was too deep in her own little world, but snapped out of it quickly enough to asnwer me, while frowning. "I'm sorry, Shirou, but it can't. Even if she doesn't want to be part of my Peerage, I can release her, but she'll still be a Reincarnated Devil."

"I see." I grimaced and looked back down. I hadn't even thought about that. At that moment I only saw the chance to save her and didn't think of the consequences. "Promise something then." I lifted my eyes to look directly at redhead's blue ones. "If she doesn't want to continue living, or wants to kill herself, let me be the one to do it." Rias pulled a breath and was about to answer, but I lifted a hand and stalled her before countinuing. "If she wants revenge and wants to blame someone, make sure that she blames me. I was the one who asked you to do it in the first place. If she wants to take revenge, I'll not fight back."

So focused I was in looking at Rias while thinking about the ramifications of my actions that I was startled when a hand touched my cheek from outside my field of vision. When I traced the hand to the Sister, I realized that she was with her eyes open, and looking at me. "Shirou-san?"

My breath caught in my throat and could only breath out. "A-Asia-chan? S-Since when were you awake?"

"For a while now." She continued to look at me with those enourmous green eyes. The lighting inside the room wasn't so bad, but in that moment, all I could see was the brightness in her eyes.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks again. I had condenmed a Sister of the church, whose Soul should be bound to the heaven she was promised during her whole life, to be damned in hell, all because I didn't want to see her die. I turned my face away from her. "I'm sorry." It was a small consolation all that I could offer her? "I didn't think of your feelings when..."

I stopped when her other hand came up and pulled my head so I could look at her face again. "There's no need to apologize to me, Shirou-san." She said, before pulling my head to rest on her chest. Needless to say, it was an awkward position, because her head was still on my lap and I have a good foot and a half on her.

"But... After all you did in your life... I didn't even think..." I tried to explain my reasoning to her, but she didn't let me finish.

"I was excommunicated." I had no idea what that meant. I mean, I wasn't catholic, so several of the terms they used were alien to me. A few others in the room apparently knew, tough.

"Wha-" Himejima started, but it was Rias who finished.

"What happened?" The redhead sounded curious.

"I was coming back from the mass, and I saw a person hurt sitting on a bench. I healed him, using my blessing. Only it wasn't a person, it was a Devil. I was branded a witch and expelled from the Vatican." She said all that with an emotionless tone that didn't befit her at all.

I tried to pull my head from her arms forcefully, but she held it in place. A moment later, I lifted it more calmly, then looked at her again. I had several question about what she said, but one thing caught my attention. "Your blessing?"

She removed both hands from my face and a pair of rings with green jewels appeared out of nowhere in them. "My blessing, my Sacred Gear. Twilight Healing." Rias pulled a sharp breath at that, and I lifted my head to look at her, but she was staring wide eyed at Asia's hands.

"A Sacred Gear?" I asked, then looked at the rings and concentrated. To my dismay, I couldn't analyse the thing. It was like there wasn't anything there. All my life, only one thing I have ever seen that I couldn't understand through Structural Analysis, and that was Ea, the true sword of Gilgamesh, the one weapon he didn't use because of hubris. But this was different. My senses didn't even picked up that there was a ring on her fingers at all. I could see the things right there, but the spell passed right through them without effect. I was analysing her fingers before I realized. "By Zelretch's fake beard, what is that?"

Asia tilted her head to the side a little. "My Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing."

"No, I understand what you said. What I mean is, what is made of? How come something like this even exists?" I reach my hand to it, and to my growing consternation, I could touch the damn things. They had substance, they were real.

"Shirou. What are you talking about?" Rias asked me, bewildered with my reaction. I would be too, I think, in her position.

"It's..." Then I realized that everyone was looking at me strangely. "Never mind. Now is not the time for this anyway." I waved off, then turned back to the blonde in my lap. "You can use your Sacred Gear to heal anyone then?"

She seemed a bit crestfallen at that. "Not anyone. Only the faithful. At least, that was what the church had told me. But then they told I was a witch that had subverted the will of the Lord to heal a Devil." She closed her eyes at that. It seemed it was a painful memory for her. Wait, looking closely she was really in pain for a second there.

I gritted my teeth. Who would do something like this? It isn't enough lie to a sweet kid like this her whole life, they needed to brand her like she was some sort of wicked monster that was out to get them? A thought occured to me, then I smiled sweetly down at the girl. "Asia-chan. Do you have the names of the people who accused you?" It was an smile not unlike Himejima used often enough.

Rias realized what was going through my mind and immediately pulled my ear. The movement she made to put one hand on the table while the other arm was outstretched to reach my head made interesting things happen with her anatomy, specially her chest area. "Shirou, you will not travel to the Vatican to kill people."

I winced at the pull. "It's not to kill people. It's rigtheous retribution. I was just going to chastise them a bit." I rebuked her. "It's not like it will be my problem if they decide to make things difficult. I can only hold back so much." She pulled harder. By the Root, does this girl needs to use all her Devil strenght on my poor ear? I'm only a fragile human here. "Okay, okay. I'll not travel to the Vatican." Promptly I began planning around that restriction, and she pulled again.

"Nor you'll get anywhere near Italy. Better yet, you don't leave Japan until we say so." The redhead's voice had gone down a pitch.

"Okay, okay, okay. Sheesh... But can I at least get the names of the bastards, so if they decide to show up in front of me I can call them out on it?" I pleaded to the redhead. "After gifting them with three feet of steel in their gut." I finished muttering.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "No, you can't." Do Devils have enhanced hearing or something?

A movement in my lap made me forget about the girl in front of me. It was Asia's giggling. Just the sound of her quiet laughter, like bells ringing in my ears, made the world a better place in my opinion. I smiled down at her, then turned back to Rias, who was still leaning forward on the table, but had now both hands and a knee on it, ready to attack me again, if need be.

Ise on the other hand was getting an eyeful of what was under her skirt, though instead of calling him out on it, I let it go. I think the guy deserved a little service for what he had done down at the church. If it wasn't for him stalling the Fallen down in the mausoleum, I don't know if I would be able to get to them in time. The sounds of Asia's giggling were dying down. I breathed in firmly and set my face looking directly at Rias. "You're right. There's something else that I need to do before that."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "And what is that?"

I looked back down at the Sister, who didn't seem to want to leave my lap, then back at Rias, beaming. "Before I introduce them to the business end of some my swords I need to thank them."

Rias was about to reach again when the entire sentence registered. "What?" She asked dumbly.

"If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have met Asia." I explained with grin.

She waited a moment, before smiling herself. "Yeah. There's that."

"But that doesn't mean I'll forgive them. Asia may forgive, because she's kind like that, but I'm not so magnanimous. I promise that I'll not seek them out, but if I ever find even one of them in front of me, I'll skin him alive." My smile grew wider and more wicked, as I said coversationally "I have just the tools for it too. Did you know that there are some torture instruments that are designed to leave a person alive for as long as possible without killing them?"

"No!" In the end it was the Sister's voice, not the slap I received at the same time from the redhead, that made me go quiet. And it was quite the strong slap too. "Don't do anything like that, Shirou-san. I don't want anyone to suffer because of me."

"But Asia-chan..." I started, but the girl sat straight up and turned on her knees on the couch. Then she realized that even on her knees she wasn't as tall as she wanted to and got up to stand on the couch so she could loom over me properly.

"No, means no." She said with her finger pantomining a hit my forehead. Her tone made it seem like she was scolding a particular mischievuous kid on a kindergarden. And for the life of me, her angry face made me want to get out of the room running straight to a landowner and buy a ponyfarm for her. Or, considering my budget, at least tickets for a petting zoo.

In the end all I could do was hang my head. "Okay."

"Good." She said, then knelt down in front of me again, reaching out with her hands while they turned bright green. Immediatelly I felt the sting from Rias' slap fade away from my face. My eyes widened when I realized that.

I looked dumbly at her. "Wow." When she removed her hands from my face, I passed a hand on the side that had been introduced to the redhead's hand and repeated. "Wow. You're amazing, Asia-chan." She beamed at me then her eyes lost focus and she was about to fall down when I caught her. I panicked looking at her, then at Rias, then at her again. "What happened?!"

A rumble and a very pink faced Sister later, I had my answer.


	3. An Unwilling Bride

A/N: Don't own anything.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **An Unwilling Bride**

* * *

It's official now. I hate Fallen Angels. I mean, it was already official, but now it's set in marble, with letters in bronze and sitting in the sky alongside the gears in my Reality Marble. I mean, how could I not hate people that- wait, scratch that. How could I not hate creatures that didn't even had the decency to feed a girl as sweet as the little Nun? After much cajoling and several rounds of red-faced stammer, she confessed that the last thing she ate was the burger when we were out in town.

That was on 'Sunday'. Today is Wednesday, pushing on Thursday!

Even if all they wanted was to kill her to remove her Sacred Gear, at least a last meal they should have the decency to offer. I mean, even convicts on the Death Row have the right to a last meal, right? If I see another Fallen in front of me, I don't care if they are trying to go through his penitence to get back on the good graces of God. He's dead. Period.

All of that was going through my mind, as I was going through the motions of cooking a meal to serve seven people, who somehow managed to cram inside my tiny apartment. Worse still, they managed to cram around the tiny round table I had that was supposed to sit only three.

"Shirou. Are you sure you don't want any help?" Himejima's voice came from behind me somewhere. I didn't even looked back, while waving a hand.

"Don't worry. I'm used to cook. Meals are more fun to cook when there are more people to eat them." I turned my head and smiled at her, only now realizing that she wasn't the only one looking at me. Asia, Rias and Toujou of all people were too. "I used to cook a lot when I was younger. My sister... Well, she wasn't actually my sister, but liked to act like she was one. Anyway, she ate a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean that when I knew she was coming to eat, I had to count her as three more people."

Fuji-nee was an aberration. She never got fat, no matter how much she ate. It wasn't even the exercise, since after she stopped with Kendo, she continued eating the same amount, even more sometimes. It was one of the mysteries of the universe that no one, not even Rin or Zelretch, has managed to answer.

"I just don't know if I have enough bowls for everyone." I thought out loud. I had only four bowls in the house, and seven mouths to feed. With so many people, and on a timetable, since I wanted to do it fast so Asia didn't starve, I had to make do with a pilaf and a green salad with pepper and onions.

A few moments later, I was serving the first bowl when there was a knock on my door. "Himejima, do you mind serving here? I need to get that."

The girl nodded and retrieved the bowl I had half-served. I cleaned my hands on the apron I was wearing then opened the door. "Good evening."

"Good evening... Emiya-san..." My landlord, an overweight bald man, who was still by my estimations in his early forties, started to greet me, only to trail off when he saw how packed my room was with people. Then he shook his head. "Can you come with me for a second?"

"Sure. Just give a moment." I reentered the house and closed the door. I started removing the apron while asking. "Does any of you know how to eat with a spoon? I only have four bowls, but if two of you don't mind, I also have four plates." When I put my hand on the cabinet I traced four spoons as well, and pulled them out. "The landlord wants to talk to me about something. Be right back."

I was in and out of the apartment so fast, that the ones who would say something couldn't.

"Sorry for the wait."

"Oh, don't worry. I remember when I was living alone for the first time, as well. I had friends over all the time." He waved off and started walking down the corridor. My apartment was on the second floor. It was a typical Japanese apartment complex, with two floors, the door opened outways, directly to a balcony that ran the entire lenght of the complex and eight apartments per floor. "But I'm affraid that what I have to talk to you isn't going to be pleasant."

I felt my stomach sink. "Oh? What is it?"

"The installment of the mortgage for this land is late three months. And I'll not be able to pay a full installment this month either, so the bank will take over the apartment as collateral. They'll probably ramp up the prices for the rent, and I can't do anything about it. If you want, I can refer you to some other apartments around town, but they are neither as close to Kuoh Academy, nor as cheap as my own." The landlord was a good man, but the way he ran this place it couldn't be financially healthy. For one, it was dirty cheap and it wasn't so banged up to have a price so low. For another, he waived the rent for some of the tenants sometimes, like myself, and didn't look all that bothered when some of them were late when paying the rent. I know that several of the repairs I done around the apartments would cost more than three months of rent if he had to hire someone to do it. It was one of the reasons why I wasn't bothered by his waiving my own rent, but there were things that an apartment like this needed to continue functioning. Like gas and electricity.

"I see." I grimaced. I chose this place for the very same reasons the man was describing for me. Being cheap and close to the school. If I could afford to pay more, I could have probably located an apartment much closer to the school. But my savings wouldn't amount to much in that case.

"I'm sorry. I'm only telling you, because you helped me much in the last months. If it weren't for it, I would have lost this place much earlier." He smiled mirthlesly. "But don't worry about me. You're still young, and have a full life ahead of you. So, " He pulled an envelope of his pocket and handed it to me. "consider this your seven day notice."

I stared dumbly at the envelope. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?"

He waved off. "Don't worry about me. This apartment was a dream that my wife had while she was still around. Nowadays, I kept it more for the sentimental part of me than for the profit. It's time for me to turn a new leaf as well."

I looked at the envelope then back at him, not sure what to do in this situation.

"Go on. You have guests waiting for you, right?" He grinned at me, then turned his back, saying something that sounded like "Ah, youth."

Walking back to the apartment, holding the envelope in my hands, I didn't know what to do. It was a numbing sensation. I ran a hand through my face and hair, sighed explosively, then put the envelope on my back pocket.

I tried to put my best smile on my face when I opened my door, though the greeting that was coming to my lips stopped at my throat at the scene that was frozen in front of me. Ise was with his head planted in Himejima's chest, who in turn had a look of surprise in her face and both arms up, holding a spoon and a half-eaten plate of pilaf, that was veering dangerously to the side to almost spill down its contents on Kiba's head, who in turn had a bowl in one hand while the other was warding off Toujou's chopsticks who were aimed at his bowl while her own was clean in front of her. Rias was trying to pull Ise off Himejima's chest, or maybe pushing him into it, it was hard to tell, while her own chest was pressing Asia down on the table when the redhead was reaching across from behind the Sister's back, the blonde in turn had her face almost buried on the plate in front of her. At the moment I stepped inside everyone looked at me, with the exception of Ise, who couldn't, and Toujou, who was more interested in pilfer food from Kiba.

I stared blankly at them. Then blinked. They blinked. I took a step back and closed the door. Looked at the nameplate. Sure enough, my name was there. Took a deep breath and entered again. The scene didn't change.

"Okay. I know there's a story behind this, but can we please leave it to after dinner?" I let out a defeated sigh.

After several awkward moments of people moving from their respective spots in the scene to places where they could be somewhat more comfortable, they resumed eating. Well, everyone except for Toujou who had her bowl on her hands extending it to me, as I was the only one who hadn't sat down yet, and was going in the direction of the stove. Even if all the while she was blankfaced I doubt that she was handing me the bowl to take to the sink. I seriously doubt that.

I picked the bowl and went to the pot, serving another helping to the white haired girl. After I handed over the bowl to the girl, I looked again at the pan, but somehow lost my appetite. What the landlord said to me still ringing in my ears. I decided to boil some water instead to prepare some tea.

I turned back to the table, and saw that for the most part they were all conversing with each other, but leaving Asia alone. In any other case I would say that that was bullying but I caught sight of Rias' looking regularly to the former Sister. They were letting her eat in peace at least. I smiled at that.

A few minutes later, I was sitting with my back against the wall, with a teacup in hand while watching a few of the acquaintaces I had made in this universe while they roughhoused around the table. They were all kids from my perspective, but I couldn't let go of the feeling of having a house full of people always brought me. It was nice. Nostalgic. The last time my house had so much people around was during the Grail War still. A small smile made its way to my face.

While I was reminiscing the past, a voice came from beside me. I hadn't even realized that she had moved. "Penny for your thoughts?" Himejima sat beside me, while holding a teacup of her own.

"Remembering the past." I said. "Such an old man thing to say, huh?"

"Not so much, when you really are an old man compared to us, right?" She neddled.

"Maybe I'm older, but I'm not an old man yet. I still have much..." I trailed off, my mind just recalling just where I was. Not the house, the universe I was. I needed to find a way back home, fast, otherwise I might get too entangled in this world and then it will hurt even more when I do go.

"Yes, yes. You're still an young buck." I raised an eyebrow at her odd phrasing. "Now, tell me what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" I asked her, kniting my brows in confusion.

"Shirou." The brunette made a serious face. "I'm a master of the fake smile. Do you think I didn't notice when you came back?"

I grimaced. Leave to the most troublesome person to realize that I had something in my mind. "Don't worry. Just some problems that I have to deal with."

"They wouldn't be problems related to that seven day notice you have on your back pocket, would they?" She smiled serenely and I scowled at her.

"Do you have a habit of reading through people's mail too?"

"No, only when they are on such a proeminent position open for all who want to see." Her smile turned beatific.

I gave up at that. There was no way I would win a debate with this girl while my head was so full of other things. Hell, I don't know if I could even if my mind wasn't full. I pulled the envelope out of my pocket, and sure enough the contents had spilled half off the wrapper with the words 'days' in fine print while the number seven was writen with a pen, completely visible. I sighed and pulled the rest of the contents out.

It was very standard fare. A note telling me to vacate the apartment in seven days. There were some bills inside it together with the letter that explained it to be compensation for the early severance of the contract. Two months worth of rent in small bills. I had half a mind to return it to the landlord, but right now wasn't the time.

"What are you thinking on doing now?" She asked again, returning to her normal carefree face.

"Look for a new place to live, what else can I do?" I answered her truthfully. If I was honest with myself, I didn't really need a place to stay. I didn't have a workshop in this universe, and everything I owned fit in a backpack. The only problem was the need for fixed residence for me to continue attending Kuoh Academy, which at this point was my best bet to find a way back home.

She hummed in agreement and we sat there in companiable silence, while hearing the chatter of the rest of the group around the table. At some point, Kiba had collected the bowls and plates from the table and was washing them at the sink. Ise was making poses and pantomining punches in the air, while Asia giggled at the antics. Rias watched with amusement as the pervert pulled all the stops while telling his tale to the little Nun. Toujou had wormed her way to my other side and her eyes were drooping with drowsiness, which I didn't help her stave off when I began to pat her head, I think.

"If only I could work, this wouldn't be much of a problem, you know?" I confessed to the brunette. "I'm used to not have to worry about money, since the Bounties I usually collected were pretty hefty."

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow at me, clearly doubting me.

"As you can see, I'm kinda frugal. Don't need much to keep on living, but still need to keep someplace to kick back. And for that I need money." Then a thought occurred. "Hey, you guys have contracts when you fulfill wishes, right?"

She cast another look at me, not realizing where I was going with this. "Yeah?"

"And some of the prices that you charge are money and other material stuff, right?" I continued and she nodded. "Then aren't you going against school rules by working part time?"

She opened her eyes wide at me, disbelieving what I had just said. Then a moment later she started to laugh, loudly, pulling the attention of everyone that was sitting at the table in front of us back to her. "Shirou-" She tried to talk, but couldn't get enough air in her lungs to continue. "You-" She stopped again. "I can't. I can't. I can't..." She devolved so much that her teacup almost spilled on her lap.

"What?" I had to ask. Her reaction was making me blush, because I had the distinct feeling that whatever she was thinking wasn't very flattering.

"What happened?" Rias voice came from the table.

"Bu-Buchou, listen to this. This guys said that-" The brunette looked at Rias, but when she looked back at me she was rushed by another laughing fit.

"What?" The redhead blinked, then looked at me. "What did you say?"

I frowned, looking at the laughing mass of a girl that was close enough to hitting her head on the floor. "I don't know why she thinks this is so funny. I only said that what you Devils do with the wish fullfilling thing was the same as a part time job because you receive money from clients after signing a contract."

If there wasn't a laughing maniac at my side, I was sure that I could hear a pin drop on the tatami mat because for a moment everyone looked at me with different emotions on their faces, but mostly disbelief. Asia because she probably didn't understand, being asleep during that part of the conversation, and Ise because he didn't understand the conversation. Toujou had wormed herself to put her head my right thigh, completely oblivious to the ongoings and Kiba simply cocked his head. Then the redhead joined her Queen in laughing at me, while Kiba just smiled shaking his head.

After almost a minute of this, Rias recovered enough to say. "I have never thought of that way. It's what we Devils do, you know?"

"Well, that may be, but you still get paid in whatever the contract says, right?" I countered. "Its more than I get at the moment."

She shook her head, her eyes crinkling with mirth. "Are you saying you can't get a job? Or maybe you want to make a wish for one?"

"No. I can get a job just fine. Its just that I'm forbidden by school rules." I reached inside my coat pocket. "Here, on the student handbook, says that while attending Kuoh Academy, the students are forbidden to perform any revenue generating task." The mirth on her face disappeared and she frowned, comtemplating, while I continued. "It's true that you guys are Devils but you are still students at Kuoh, right? Then isn't this going against school rules?"

"Well... Thinking about it from that point of view..." She mumbled and sat back down pensive.

The brunette had stopped laughing at some point and had regained some of her serenity. "Well, that was fun." She giggled again. "But while Buchou is trying to rationalize her reasons, I had another question." I gestured with my head for her to continue. "You said you don't need much to live, but you never had problems with money before. So, are you rich on your world?"

I shook my head. "Not really rich. Just didn't have any monetary problems. As I said, they generally only came to me with Bounties that were substantially bigger than normal. And the bigger the bounty..."

"The bigger the risk, and the reward." She nodded.

"Yeah. I escaped a Sealing Designation when I was younger, but the people who wanted to slap me with it were still trying to find ways to get me killed." I shrugged.

"Sealing Designation?" She turned to me, confusion on her face.

"It's kinda complicated to explain without having a background on the politics of the Mage Association." I waved my hand dismissively. "Basically is a order to aprehend an individual's body, by any means necessary."

She began to nod, but stopped midway. "Wait. Individual's body?"

"Yeah. They don't really care if the person with a Sealing Designation is aprehended alive or not. As long as they get to study him later, they don't care." Again, I waved it off. "Anyway, since I escaped one when I was younger, the Lords that wanted to get me with one kept sending bounties my way that were ridiculously difficult."

"But, if you knew that was the reason for them to send you those jobs, then why did you kept accepting them?" The redhead asked, surprising me. I didn't even realize that the whole room's attention was on back on me again.

I sighed, looking down. How to explain this? It wasn't just because I knew that those bounties were big only because they threatened the secrecy of Magecraft, since they generally happened on highly populated areas. It wasn't just because I wanted to save people. It wasn't because I wanted to fight against the monsters of the world. In the end, it only came down to a single thing. "My ideals."

"Your ideals?" The brunette asked, shifting her position to sit seiza style turning her whole body to face me.

"Yeah. My ideals are what make me continue on and are what drag me down at the same time." I lifted my head until my the back of my head was resting against the wall.

"What are your ideals?" She insisted and I realized that she had asked what they were and not simply parroted my words.

"To save as many people as I can, basically." I answered her with a grimace.

She tilted her head to the side, teasingly. "Are you saying that your ideal is to be some sort of hero that goes around the world saving people?"

"No. Not a hero." I shook my head with conviction. "Definitelly... not a hero." I finished almost in a whisper, practically only breathing out the words.

"The way you speak, it's like you don't like your own ideals. But it seems to be a noble effort, to save people." The redhead must have forgotten about the part time job Devils connundrum I sprang on her.

I smiled bitterly at her. "Yeah. It's a noble effort. It's also all kinds of wrong. I'm distorted like that." Rin had beaten me over the head with that one. It took me almost losing to Gilgamesh during the Grail War to see.

"What?! Why?" Rias asked in a disbelieving tone.

I turned to look at her, my own face set with disdain. "I 'want' to save people." I emphasized that part.

"Yes. And that's good, isn't it?" She motioned to Ise then to Asia. "It was why you helped us when we first met, right? And the same thing you did for Issei and Asia."

"Yes. It was the same thing." I said. "Can't you see what's wrong with this picture?" I asked back. "I'm the one doing and I can see it, clear as day."

She was even more confused, a feeling that was apparently shared by the rest of the room. "No. I can't see nothing wrong with that."

"I said that I 'want' to go around saving people." I emphasized again the operative word. 'Want'. When even then they didn't realize, I sighed, then turned the question around. "To be able to save people, what is first needed?"

"To be strong enough to help?" Ise chimed and I shook my head.

"To know when people are in trouble?" Himejima said and again I shook my head. Looks like I'll have to point out the obvious.

"It's necessary for people to be in need of saving in the first place." Rias frowned at me, still confused. A feeling shared by the others, but she managed to answer anyway.

"Well, yes. If there's no one to save..." Then it apparently finally clicked for her.

"Your ideals will make you 'want' to always have people in need of help." Himejima completed.

I chuckled again, mirthlessly. "As I said, all kinds of wrong. But its the only way I know how to live." I pulled my head up again, closing my eyes. "But hey, in the end, it paid the bills." I tried to circle the subject back to more calm waters. I didn't want to continue talking about this.

Himejima probably realized that and pounced on the change before the silence grew. "So in the end you weren't rich, but didn't need the money? I can't really imagine you living in a mansion. Not with all the work you do for the Student Council around the Academy."

"Not really a mansion, but I had a big house." My mood soured again at the thought. "There are few things that I really miss from my universe, my house is one them." I took a sip of the already cold tea. Then my mind drifted to the memories. "It's an old styled japanese mansion, with several rooms that were always empty. A kitchen that was actually separated from the dining room. A real foyer at the entrance." I sighed. "It's true what they say, right? We only know that we miss once we lose it."

My house. I spent so much time away from there that at this point it was more Rin and Sakura's house than mine. They spent more time there than me. After Rin came back from years studying on the Clock Tower, for some reason that to this day I don't understand, she decided to appropriate herself of one of the rooms in the house. Sakura too, after we discovered what Zouken had done to her, we managed to make him receive a Sealing Designation, and he was exterminated by a team of Enforcers. He did try to weasel himself into his familiars that were inside Sakura's body, but in the end we managed to extract all of them from her.

After that, we had to spend another whole year to find a way to remove the shards of the Grail that were embebbed in her body. That was an awkward year. Sakura needed prana to stabilize at least once a week, sometimes more than that. And the quantities she needed were only really viable for us to provide were during a tantric ritual. To make matters even worse, I wasn't always around, so Rin had to be the one who performed the ritual. Yeah, awkward doesn't begin to cover. At least some things were better after that ordeal. Sakura and Rin became closer again, like the sisters they were, and boy was I shocked when I discovered that particular tidbit. I knew that Rin was at least was happy with the reconciliation. The other thing that the ritual for removing the shards from Sakura did was catch the eye of Zelretch.

The old man appeared out of nowhere at our workshop, and decided that Rin was going to be his new apprentice. After that, months of Rin literally disappearing out of thin air on me, and she decided to call things off between us. It was weird because we had been basically just friends since Sakura had move in with us and didn't need anymore stabilizing. The purple haired girl continued living with us, despite that, and for the life of me I can't make her stop to calling me Sempai, too. At least she was calling Rin by her name instead of Tohsaka-sempai, so some progress.

Rin was the one who once said that I was distorted, so maybe that's why I didn't see anything wrong with our arrangement. They got to live with each other, in a house that wasn't one either of them grew up in to bring bitter memories, and I got the company that I craved after so much time living basically alone in that big house. It was... nice.

"My house was big too." The brunette started, breaking me out of my thoughts. "But there were always people around. Not that I liked most of them, but when I was small, there was always someone with me. Be it my mother, or one of the kannushi."

"Kannushi?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I'm a Shrine Maiden." She tilted her head to the side. "I thought you knew."

I shook my head. "Nah. First I heard of it." I lied straight faced. Of course I knew that.

"Then maybe you can come to the Temple sometime." She offered.

I was about to nod when my mind catched up with that. "How does that even work? You're a Devil." Then her scent hit me again, and I realized why I had compared her to a high-end cross breed. "Wait. You weren't human when you were turned, right?"

She nodded, but didn't answer anymore. I wanted to ask how does a Devil can pray for the gods, but her face had scrunched up somewhat and I realized that this time it was me that put my foot on a landmine. There was a story there, one that she didn't want to share at the moment and I didn't know if I should continue that line of questioning. It was bugging me since I met Raynare, but she if she didn't want to talk about it, then maybe it was best to let her talk on her own time, if at all.

She looked at me as if searching for something, then sighed and started to sit up. It was at this point that Rias addressed a problem that hadn't occurred to me until that moment. "Where are you going to stay, Asia-chan?"

I looked up startled, then put a hand to my face. Obviously, she didn't have anywhere else to go. The place where she was staying- correction, where she was being kept captive, was in ruins and she had nowhere else to go. "I can put her up for the night, and tomorrow we can look for a place for her to stay." I need to look for a place myself, anyway. "That is, if you don't mind sleeping in a futon, Asia."

"Oh, no. I would hate to impose." She waved her hands in front of her face repeatedly.

"It's not imposing if I'm offering. Don't worry." I waved it off.

"But..."

"Ho-oh. Trying to get some action with the little Nun?" Himejima's voice cut the Sister's answer, and almost gave me whiplash with how fast my head turned to her. The girl that sat companionably with me a few minutes ago was gone and now sitting there was the covert pervert.

I glared at her. "No." The answer was simple and to the point, hoping to end the subject before it started.

"It's too late now for us to find a hotel for her anyway." Rias said after a moment. "Shirou, tomorrow, can you take Asia to school with you? I want to introduce her to Sona."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why do you need to introduce her to Shitori?"

"She's part of my Peerage now, and I want her to stay at Kuoh Academy with the rest of us." The redhead tone was so matter-of-fact that I only stared dumbly as she continued, looking at the Sister. "If you want, you can even enroll on school too."

Her eyes lit up immediatelly. "Really? I can go to a normal school?"

"Normal is such a difficult term to define." I snorted at Himejima's remark. She had probably said only for me to hear, but the sound I made, ended up making the Sister look crestfallen, thinking I was laughing at her.

Immediatelly I tried to reassure her. "I was only thinking that a school full of Devils is anything but normal, Asia. Don't worry about it. You'll be fine." Her face lit up again.

"Well, its late and we have classes in the morning, so let's get going." Rias said.

"Thanks for the food, Sempai." Ise cheered while walking to the door.

"Thanks for the food, Emiya-san." Kiba was more polite in his tone.

"Thanks." Toujou had woken up at some point and moved her head from my lap without me realizing.

"Thanks for the food, Shirou. And please, take good care of Asia." Rias said too.

"Thanks for the food, Shirou. And please, take really good care of Asia tonight." The Shrine Maiden had to make that jab.

I ignored, obviously. "Don't worry. She'll be safe and sound at the clubroom tomorrow morning." I said looking at Rias.

"Thank you, Shirou. Good night." She said to both of us still inside the room.

The goodbyes were echoed by everyone else, except for Himejima again. I frowned when she made mention for me to get closer. I did it anyway, despite my best judgment. "Can you show me some of those torture tools you mentioned earlier?"

I couldn't believe my ears. Worse, I started picturing what would this girl do with them. I shook my head slowly and deliberately, while smiling despite myself. "Good night, Himejima."

"Good night, Shirou." The girl smirked back.

* * *

In the morning I woke up with a crick in my neck from the position I had slept through the night. I only have one futon, so, after strongly rejecting an embarassed offer from an atomic red faced Asia to sleep together in it, I waited for her to fall asleep before sitting down on the corner and sleeping in that position. After getting up from the floor I made sure that the sleeping form of the girl in the futon was still there before going to wash my face and went about to make something for us to eat.

I had to grimace with the results I managed to scavenge from my pantry. Not much, but it would do just for the two of us. It was what I was thinking while I started up the oven when I heard a knock at my door. I looked at the clock and frowned. "Who could it be at this time of the morning?"

"Funyaaa~" I almost forgot about the door with the cute yawn that came from the futon. The little Sister had to sleep in one of my shirts, because all she had was the clothes that Himejima somehow managed to produce yesterday at the clubroom. I'm still not sure if she has a Reality Marble based on clothes or not. I shudder to imagine it if she has and somehow discovers how to project it.

"Good morning, Asia." I said to the girl, while stepping towards the door.

"Ah, good morning, Shirou-san." She was about to leave the futon before pulling the covers back up. We already had this problem yesterday, so I just turned my back to her.

"Wait just a moment. There's someone knocking on the door." She nodded and covered herself even more. Only the tips of her fingers and her head from her eyes up were visible. It was such a cute sight, I had to fight with myself not to go to her and pat her head.

I opened the door, not sure who would be. And from all the people I could have expected, Toujou wasn't one of them. She looked up at me, then shoved a bundle she was holding at my chest. "Here."

I looked dumbly at her, then at the bundle. "What?"

"Uniform." She said.

"Uniform?" I repeated, before opening the package. The first thing I saw was a wine colored pleated skirt. "Oh." From that I could infer that Rias had sent a Kuoh Uniform for Asia to wear. "Well, come in." I said to the girl.

She was about to shake her head, I'm sure of it. Then I got the illusion that she had sprouted cat ears out of the tuft of her hair and they pointed to the room. It was there then gone, so fast, that I don't even know where did that came from. After a moment, she obediently entered without a word. I blinked several times, then rubbed my eyes. I must be more tired than I thought.

"Asia, Toujou brought an uniform for you to wear to school today." I said, lifting the bundle to the girl.

"Oh, thank you, Toujou-san." She bowed from her position on the futon, still under the covers, but at least she let go of them so they were only covering her from the waist down.

"Koneko." Toujou said, and Asia stared at her for a moment when she didn't elaborated, so I had to translate for the Sister.

"She wants you to call her Koneko." The sister's eyes lit up at that. "I'll wait outside for you to change. Toujou can help you with a female uniform better than me."

"Ah, okay. I'll be just a second." Asia said, but almost at the same time Toujou was looking at me.

"Koneko." She said in the same tone, and after a moment I nodded.

"Okay. Just call me when you're done." She nodded once.

After a few minutes of rustling noises coming from behind the door, it opened and I saw the blonde wearing the Kuoh Academy uniform. I have no idea how it was possible, but is seemed that the uniform itself was tailored for her. Not the measurements, mind you, the design. It contrasted with her skin complexity so well that I'm sure that she will have a fan club by the end of the day.

I went back to the stove when they allowed me back into the house, just in time for the rice cooker to ping, alerting me that the meal was done. I began to serve the bowl, when I realized that Toujou, err, Koneko, was still inside the room. When I turned to her she had fixed her eyes on the stove where the pan was. "Did you already have breakfast, Koneko?" I asked, and she nodded, but didn't took her eyes from where they were looking. "Do you want to eat with us?" Another single bob of her head.

I sighed and served another bowl, then when I was about to deliver them to the table I remembered that Asia didn't know how to eat with chopsticks. "Just a moment." I said to the Nun, and left both bowls on the table.

I was about to finish serving the plate for the girl when I heard a yelp from her and turned. She was watching Koneko with wide eyes where she mechanically kept transporting food from the bowl to her mouth. It was only when I put the plate in front of the blonde that I realized that the girl with gold colored eyes was eating from the second bowl that I had served earlier. The first one wiped clean on the table beside her.

A defeated groan escaped me.

Half an hour later we were walking to the school, much earlier than I normally would, since I had to take Asia to the Occult Research Clubroom. Now that Koneko was with us, I could leave the Nun with the white haired girl, but she said that Rias wanted to talk with me.

Well, not in so many words, but the idea was there and since she didn't correct my assumption, I could only imagine that I was right. The actual dialogue was exactly two words. "You" and "Buchou."

When we entered the clubroom, I had to facepalm. Rias was in the process of pulling up her skirt in the middle of the room, while looking at something at the table with her back half turned to us. I knew that she was aware of us, since the Bounded Field around the whole building must have warned her, but she either didn't realize, or thought that we were going to knock on the door before entering. Koneko had no such compunctions and simply strode inside. Even after the noise of the door opening she continued on her task without stopping or getting flustered. The girl was an exhibitionist or didn't thought of me as male at all.

Thinking about it I really, really hope it was the first, since it would be a serious blow to my masculinity.

Koneko answered for me. Kinda. "...pervert." And pranced to the side room where all the snacks were housed. Really, the girl just ate for three at my house and was going to eat again?

The remark at least managed to make the redhead acknowledge our presence, and she sprung upright immediately pulling the skirt with the movement. Then turned to face me and Asia, who had stood stock still the whole time we were at the door. The redhead blushed furiously, before coughing on a hand to gather herself. "Good morning, Asia, Shirou."

"G-Good morning, Rias-san." The blonde answered in reflex.

"Morning, Rias." I answered, thought it came out muffled by the hand that was coming down my face and was still in front of my mouth as I sighed exhasperatedly.

She ignored me, in favor of checking the former Sister. "You look cute in that uniform, Asia."

"T-Thank you."

She reached over the table to whatever she was reading earlier and produced a bundle of papers. "Here, I need you to fill these forms for me." She said, handing them to the blonde. I recognized the papers as being similar to the ones that I had to fill when I transfered in.

"O-Okay." The girl got the papers and sat down on the couch that Rias was directing her to.

The redhead looked at the blonde with fondness for a moment, before turning to me. "Now, while Asia is filling the paperwork for her transfer, I need to talk to you."

I turned my head from the papers to her. "Sure. What do you need?"

She watched Asia one more moment, then signaled for me to follow her. "Koneko, help Asia if she needs anything, okay? If you don't know either, then wait for me to get back." The white haired girl nodded once while sitting on the couch at the head of the table, holding a bag of chips.

I followed Rias out of the door and down the stairs, then down a corridor that I had never been before and into another, empty, room.

"Shirou. What is going on? Yesterday, I asked Akeno why you were talking about part time jobs and she said that you were looking for one because you were going to be evicted." Rias began with that.

"Well," I rolled the question once in my head, not really bothering with the fact that Himejima had ousted my situation. At the time we were talking inside a small room with everyone inside it, after all. "that's pretty much it. I need to find another place to rent but my savings won't be enough until the summer break anywhere else. I need to find a way to earn some money, and a part time job would be ideal, but it's against the school rules. That's, of course, if I don't find a way back home before that, but I have to plan for the worst case scenario."

She nodded, absorbing the information. "I may be able to provide you with something." She said after a moment.

I held my hands up to stop her. "Look, you already helped me enough. I don't want to get further in your debt. And it has nothing to do with the fact that you are a Devil. It's just that I don't want keep relying on other people when I can resolve my problems myself."

"Good." She said. "With what I have in mind you would not be relying on me, but more of a partnership."

I was confused. "Partnership?"

"I don't know how are things in your world, but here, some people, Magicians and people with mystical awareness generally, can make pacts with us Devils. It's different from the contracts we make during our wish fulfilling bussiness, but I'm getting ahead of myself." She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "We explained how our business works, right? We receive a wish from a person and try to fulfill it for the price agreed on the contract." I nodded, recalling our conversation. "And I said that there are some contracts that we can't fulfill and how that's a problem." I nodded again. "Well, some contracts we need to try and fulfill even if the chance are very slim. Those types of contracts usually involve things that don't depend exclusively on us, but we are bound to try them anyway, because the wish has more than one possible outcome, and we can't deny it based on impossibility."

She pulled a breath, before turning her back to me and going to the window that was open in the room. I followed her and we both were staring at the woods behind the school.

After a moment she continued. "Yesterday, I received a contract like this. A mother wants me to find news about her daughters."

Now I understood what she meant about not always being possible to fulfill. Missing persons cases were complicated things, but I had to be blunt about it. "And why did you accepted it? You know that the overwhelming majority of missing persons cases are cold cases for a reason, right? The probability of them being alive is slim at best."

"Yes, but in her case, she is sure that they are still alive." She turned back to me. "But that's all I can say about it for now. The proposition I have for you simple. You fulfill this wish, and the payment for it will go entirely to you."

My eyebrows met my hairline at that. "Wait, are you passing down a Devil contract to me, a human?"

She frowned. "Basically yes, but its a little more complicated than that. Since I was the one who signed the contract, only me or my Peerage can work on this case. It has nothing to do with Pride, before you ask. Its one of the terms of a Devil's wish fullfilling contract."

Now I was confused. We already stabilished that she can't turn me into a Devil, so how?

"There are some loopholes on it, though." She said, turning to me. "Like using the favors of other people who owed us for earlier wishes." She bit her lower lip, before continuing. "Another loophole in the contract is when the human in question has bargained and made a pact with a Devil."

It took me a moment to understand what she was implying, but I made the connection eventually. If I made a pact with her, I could fullfil this other contract for her while reaping the benefits. "But this pact, it involves my soul in some way, doesn't it?" I knew it to be true, but had to ask.

There was hint of something akin to fear on her face for some reason as she nodded. "Unfortunatelly, but the pact is just another type of contract. We can put as many clauses as you want on it, to protect both of us from it. And, unless there's a clause specifically telling so in the contract, we can't force the other to do anything they don't want to in the meantime, as well."

"Both of us? What do you mean?" That part didn't make sense.

"It means that while your Soul is part of the bargain, mine is as well. Both our Souls would be open to one another for the duration of the contract. When the terms are fulfilled, then both of us get out of it without any harm. But, during it, if something were to happen with you or with me, the other would know instantly. Death for either of us would make the contract null and void, but the other would feel like they were ripped apart at the time it happened."

She looked down after a moment, then turned back to the window again. I only looked at her dumbly. "Wow." It was all I could say.

"There are advantages to it, as well. Anything that I could offer you in a normal pact can be negotiated. You could use part of my powers, for example. You could summon me to your side once a day to help you, as well. There are other minor things that can be offered." Then she said in almost a whisper. "That is, if you want."

I waited a moment to digest everything she said. "Let me get this straight. You want me to make a pact with you, just so you can use a loophole in the contract with the mother of the missing girls and send me to it, all the while knowing that if something happens to me for the duration of the pact could be potentially painfull for you? Sorry, but I still don't see what is the upside for you. It can't be just about a contract."

She nodded. "You're right. It's not just about the contract, but who contracted me. But I can't reveal anymore than this." She took a step back from the window and turned back towards the door. "Think about it, please? I'll wait for you in the clubroom after school." She walked out of the room, not leaving me time to answer.

Now what? What should I do? I walked back to the clubroom in a daze. When I got there, Himejima and Kiba were already there, in their usual spots. The brunette on the couch and Kiba by the door. Asia was still filling up forms, and Rias had sat at her table. A smiling mask set back on her face.

"Welcome back, Shirou-san." The blonde said. "Look. Look." She pulled one of the forms that had been filled and showed to me. "I'm officially a student at Kuoh Academy." Her smile was so brilliant that at that moment made me feel like all was right in the world. Peace was finally achieved and everyone was happy. It wasn't just her hands that healed, her smile did it too, it seemed.

"Congratulations." I gave the girl a lopsided grin, then patted her head while she giggled. "Well, I have to go now. I'll see you later, okay?" She nodded at me. "See ya, guys." I said to the rest of the room, turned and left again.

I had several things to think about.

* * *

The lessons flew by me without anything sinking. I was there only in body, after all. My mind was wandering. Rin often spoke about the times she spent traveling across other parallel worlds. How it was sometimes hard to discern the world she was in as different from home, so alike they were.

Begrudgingly she also admitted that she took so long to come back home at times because she simply lost her way home, and had to recalculate the whole spell so it would bring her back. According to her, the simple fact of her presence in another dimension sometimes changed the flow of events there and effectivelly created another parallel world from that point onwards, and she had to redo the calcutations to compensate for that. Apparently Zelretch didn't explain that to her, and she had to keep hopping between dimensions until she discovered that problem. The Kaleido Stick was a great Mystic Code, but was limited in that it only had the function of input-output. It couldn't compensate for the deviations on its own.

But I had discovered in the first week that I was here, that this world I was in was so different from my original one that it didn't really mattered if I created or not these deviations.

Not for the first time I wondered if it was really alright for me to continue to mess around with things around here. The world is different. Fuyuki City didn't exist. So I was reasonably sure that I wouldn't be rescued until I managed to send a signal to them. That's, of course, assuming they were even looking for me.

And now, here I was, about to create another deviation. What would Rias do if I wasn't here? How would she fulfill this contract? She had to have some other way, right? Whatever that other way was, it didn't involve a otherworldly human like me. Would this be a problem later for her and her friends when I'm no longer here?

Fact of the matter was that I couldn't really deny her request. Aside from the fact that I felt like I owed her for saving Asia, she was the one who helped me as well, and if I wanted to keep on her good side, a give and take was bound to happen sometime. Not to mention that I needed to continue living here in this world until someone came for me, and for that I needed money.

But I couldn't get a part-time job because of school regulations, and I needed to continue on this school because here's where was located the stronger leyline nexus in the region and had a library with several tomes dedicated to the magic of this world. So, doing a Devil's work apparently was the only way for me to get more money without risking a suspension or expulsion.

There was another possibility. I could simply quit school and start to travel around until I ran into what passes for a Magus on this world, but that solution was as unreliable at best and stupid in reality. Why risk going after someone I didn't even know it existed? It was better to continue here in this case, the Devil you know and all that.

Another course of action would be to simply give up going home, and live the rest of my life on this world. I'm sure that there are wars being fought here too. And with the amount of prana this world had, I'm sure that there would be even easier to find people to save here than back in my homeworld.

In the end, I couldn't give up my world. And to go back to my world, I needed the school, and for me to continue in the school, I need money. And the only way to get money, because of the school's rules, was to either rob someone or accept Rias' proposal.

My mind was circling around these thoughts all morning, that I didn't even realized that lunch break had started. I only noticed after someone put a hand on my shoulder and I turned startled.

"Emiya-san, I would like to talk with you." Shitori's voice cut through the momentary panic attack I was having.

"Huh... Sure." I got up from my seat. "What is it?"

"The lights on the female restroom on the second floor aren't working, even after we changed the bulbs." She said. "If you could take a look for us?"

"Uhm... Sure. Can I have lunch first though?" I answered.

"Sure, no problem. It isn't an emergency or anything. How about after school?"

"No. I'll go before lunch break ends. I have an appointment after achool." Then I remembered. "Oh, and can you tell Kusaka that I'll not be able to meet her at the library today?"

She nodded. "Sure. No problem."

"I'll eat then come get you on the Student Council room, okay?" She nodded again, and went away.

Some mindless work would do me good at the moment, and if I wasn't hungry I would have gone there right away. Then I remembered that I had left my lunchbox with Asia, since she didn't have one. Sighing I started walking to the cafeteria. There should be some bread still on sale.

I was going in the direction of the rooftop, after scoring two noodle bread rolls from the cafeteria, I heard a voice like bells coming from the third floor hallway. "Oh... He's not here..." She sounded dejected.

Walking behind her, I asked. "Who are you looking for?"

The reaction was greater than what I expected. A leap and a shriek later, the blonde recognized me, and put a hand on her chest. "Please, don't do that."

"What did I do?" I asked the girl. It wasn't like I was stealthly moving in her direction.

"Nothing. Nevermind." The blonde said and after a moment, she looked down at her hands and up at me again. "I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with me?" It came out more as a question than a request. I had to smile at that.

"Sure. I was going to the rooftop to eat lunch. Want to come with me?"

The girl nodded eagerly, almost shouting her answer. "Yes!"

I turned back to the direction of the stairs and, after confirming that she was coming with me, I asked. "So, how was your first morning in a normal school?" Until now, she had always gone to intern catholic schools geared toward people like her who would become Sisters or Priests in the Vatican. She had never gone to a school where you actually had to walk from your home to the place. The most she did was going from the dormitories to the classroom and back.

"It was interesting." She beamed at me. "Ah, I'm in the same class as Issei-san."

I hummed at that, then thought of something else. "Him or his friends didn't try to do anything with you did they?"

"Anything?" She asked, clueless. "Like what?"

"Like anything untoward. I mean, I imagine your classmates already told you that Ise and his two friends are known in school and in the neighborhood as the Perverted Trio, right?"

I opened the door for the roof and held it open for the girl to pass through. "No, they didn't do anything. But the girls were crowding me during all the breaks asking all kinds of questions." She looked pleased at that.

"Oh, so you 'are' already making friends?" I nodded sagely. "That's good."

"Yeah. They wanted me to eat lunch with them, but I said that I wanted to eat with you." She scowled saying that. Or tried to, anyway. It had the same effect as kitty trying to fight that damn ball of yarn that was rolling on the floor. "Did you know that you have the reputation of being scary with the second years?"

That gave me pause. "Scary? What? Why?"

"They couldn't say either. They simply said that they found you scary, for some reason." We sat on a bench at that and I unwrapped my first bread.

"Weird." I don't remember ever doing anything to them that would cause that reaction. If anything, I thought that maybe they would be more receptive of me, since I kept getting in the way of the Perverted Trio.

She put the lunchbox on her lap then turned a curious glance towards me. "Where's your lunchbox?"

I pointed to her lap. She looked at it, then back at me confused. "Asia, remember this morning when I made that lunchbox?" She nodded. "Do you remember me preparing another one?"

It finally downed on her. She must have been too excited about the new uniform to notice that I wasn't carrying another one. "Oh, but that won't do. This is yours right? I can go get something else..."

I waved the bread in front of her. "I already did, don't worry. Just eat to your heart content." I smiled at her.

She nodded and put her hands together. "Bless us, O Lord-ouch, and these your gifts, which we are about to receive from your bounty. Through Christ-ouch our Lord-ouch. Amen." Each time she was about to mention the deity, it was like she was receiving a punch in the gut.

"Asia." I started slowly. "You do know that you are a Devil now, right? You do understand what that means, right?"

She was rubbing her temples. "Yes. But even if He doesn't want me to pray to Him, I still want to, since He deserves to be praised."

I looked at her, completely at a loss for words. A saint. There's a saint sitting beside me. A Saint, I tell you. After looking at her flabbergasted for a good minute, during which her face got increasingly redder and redder I finally gained back my wit enough to say. "Good for you." Then patted her head again.

The God of this world must be a jerk to punish the girl for trying to thank him. I scowled at the sky while thinking that.

The rest of the lunch was unremarkable, we just sat next to each other eating peacefully, while she told me about her classes and new friends. Just this girl's presence is enough to bring me some cheer too. It was an scary thought. I knew her for less than a week, after all.

Twenty minutes before the end of lunch break, I got up from my seat. "I need to run an errand for Shitori. Do you want to me to accompany you back to class?"

"Oh, no. I don't want to trouble you." She waved her hands in front of her.

"It's not trouble at all."

We descended to the second floor, but before we got to her classroom I heard three voices that I knew from a distance inside the place. I turned to the blonde. "Can you wait for me, just a moment. I need to make a little stop."

She looked puzzled at me for a moment, but then nodded. "Okay."

"Wait here, okay? Don't move until I come back to get you." She nodded again and I walked into the classroom and closed the door behind me.

Huddled in a corner of the room were the Perverted Trio. Good. The room was devoid of anyone else, besides the trio. The first voice I heard came from the bald one, Matsuda, I think. I couldn't ever tell one from the other. "She's foreigner, right? You know how they are loose in morals overseas." My eyes twitched at that remark. No doubt about who they were talking about.

"Yeah. We can just ask her to lift her skirt a little. She wouldn't find it any problem with it." The other, Motohama, said.

Ise blanched at that. "No, man. She's off limits. I'm telling you, don't try anything with her." Good, at least that one knows when there are battles that futile to fight.

"Oh, come on. It's not like she has family or anything here, right?" Matsuda again. "I mean, she just said she came from Europe alone during her introduction."

I narrowed my eyes at them, all the while they were talking I was walking closer and closer. Ise was the first to look up at my face and blanch. "Issei? What is it?" Motohama asked, when he noticed his friend looking up and behind their backs.

Before they could turn to me, I pulled both in choke holds, one in each arm. "Well, isn't it nice to have a cute new foreign transfer student in class?" I asked, cheerfully.

"Y-Yeah." Matsuda answered, trying to free himself from my grip. Ise started to back away from me, but stopped immediately when I shot him a look.

"Wouldn't be a shame to our forefathers if she ended up having a bad impression of Japan because someone said or did something careless?" I said, tighening my hold on their heads, still smiling cheerily.

"Y-Yeah. It would. It would." They both answered at the same time.

"So we have to make sure that nothing incovenient happens during her stay here, isn't it?" By now, they had given up escape and were looking at Ise with pleading eyes. Since they didn't answer, I had to repeat myself. "Isn't it?"

"Yes, it is!" The three answered simultaneously.

"So, just to make sure that we are on the same page, I'll be the most explicit I can. If I ever hear that anything perverted happened to her, even by accident, even by some freakish natural disaster, even by divine intervention," Until now I was talking genially, but changed my tone at this point, to something a bit more threatening. "I'm coming for you. And you can ask the Archery club about my accuracy with a bow and arrow in hand. From now on, if you even think about doing something to her, you'll have to answer to me. Am I making myself clear?" Okay, a lot more threatening.

When they didn't answer, I let go of them and got one of the pencils that was on the desk, a quick round of Reinforcement and Alteration on it to make it the same consistency and sharpness of a throwing pick, and slammed it point first on the table almost making it go through it.

"Am. I. Making. Myself. Clear?" I repeated, punctuating each word with another twist on the pencil.

"Yes, sir!" The three saluted me, for some reason. "Crystal, sir."

I got up from my scrunched down position and smiled at the trio. "Good." And turned back towards the door, calmly opening and then closing it. When I looked to where I had left the blonde she was still there, but now had another two girls trying to strike up conversation with her.

I walked to her, and the two girls got nervous when they realized that I was coming closer. How did I never noticed this? It must be the hair. It's natural, I tell you. I reached a hand an patted Asia. "Its all good now, Asia. Anything you need, just give me a call. You know where my class is."

"Y-Yes. Thank you, Shirou-san!" She stammered at first, but then smiled at the end.

"No worries. Later, Asia." I said going in the direction of the Student Council Room. I still had to do a favor for Shitori, after all.

* * *

I was walking towards the Occult Research Clubroom later than I expected. The problem in the restroom on the second floor was in the wiring behind the fuse box, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't solve. Just a wire that had been badly insulated and got oxidated as a result. Just needed to replace it, but didn't have the tools to do it during lunch break, so I had Shitori procure them for me during the afternoon, and fixed it after school.

This school is beautifully built and maintained on the outside. The Janitors keep the gardens, walls and every other visible part completely clean and pristine. But when one looks under the hood, the school is a faulty wire away from a fire. I couldn't understand that. Just couldn't.

While thinking on that, I entered the clubroom only to be greeted by a smiling Asia with a couple of words that failed to register. I kept staring at the girl who said it, without moving my hand from the doorknob, or making any mention to change my position, when the girl said the words again, and again they failed to register.

Himejima who was sitting beside her got up, walked to me and poked the side of my face, which was frozen with a disbelieving look. "I think you broke him, Asia-chan."

The blonde in question looked up at me, with fear in her eyes and got closer. I could peripherically register the mirth on the brunette face, but the bulk of my attention was on the former Sister who got closer to me and asked again. "Are you okay, Shirou-nii-sama?" Finally the words registered.

My jaw moved to answer but the only thing that kept leaving my mouth was something along the lines of "Gurk, gahk, gulp."

Asia was looking worried. "Shirou-nii-sama?" Okay. That was foul play. I just know that Himejima was the culprit for this. I don't know how yet, but I'm certain that she is.

"I-I-I'm okay, Asia. I'm okay." Just received a blow of cuteness that made me lose my mental faculties for a moment. Is this the so called dreaded power of moe? If so, I need to find a way to harvest it and research a way to weaponize it after I return to my workshop, or after I build one in this world. One or other.

She sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

I had hoped that no one noticed that I was gripping the doorknob just so I didn't fell on the ground because my knees somehow turned into jelly. When I saw the smirk on Himejima and Rias' faces though, I realized that one hope had been dashed.

I let go of the door, closing it behind me and half-stumbled, half-walked to the couch. "Asia, you do know what you called me means, right?" I had to make sure. She nodded at that. "Then why?"

"Well, today after you left me in the classroom, I heard Issei-kun's friends saying that you looked like an overprotective big brother, and when I told it to Akeno-san, she said that if I called you that you would be happy." She looked like a kicked puppy, with those dreaded enourmous doed green eyes turned to me directly. "Did you not feel happy?"

"No." I answered a little too fast. "No, it's not that. It's just..." I trailled off, not sure what to say.

"It's just that he wasn't prepared, Asia-chan. Don't worry. He'll get over it." Himejima said. I swear, this girl must be some kinda Devil.

Wait, she really is a Devil. Why was that this information did not compute again? Oh, right. She's the only one who acts like one. The other Devils act like normal people.

"So, I shouldn't have called you this way without warning?" The girl asked, as if I was the one who had answered earlier.

"No. It's okay." I smiled. "You can call me however you feel more comfortable with, okay?" I reached to pat her head.

"Okay, Onii-chan." She beamed at me. The hand that was touching her head froze along with the rest of my body, while the girl smiled blissfully. Either she took to be a Devil faster than I anticipated and was already using her newfound powers to look even more adorable, or this girl is really this adorable on her own. I was really hoping it was the latter, and that she didn't somehow managed to compound her new inhuman status with the atributes she had while human. Realizing that the hand that was patting her hadn't moved for a few seconds she looked up at me again. "Onii-chan?"

That last call made me go into battle mode involuntarily at this point. Calm, collected, and to the point. Analysing the situation and acting on it, according to the objective previously determined. Right now, the objective was not make Asia worry. The situation was that I still had a hand on her head. The act that would yield the best results would be to continue patting her head.

So I forced my body to act on it. "It's nothing, Asia. It's... nothing." I forced a smile in what I assumed, hoped, was a reassuring one. It seemed to have worked because she beamed at me again.

"Asia," Rias' smirk didn't fade even as she called for the blonde's attention. "can you go help Koneko for me, please? She should be moving those boxes in the lobby. I would ask Shirou, but I don't think he is in any condition to help after getting here." The redhead barely restrained grin was showing through. She was in collusion with Himejima to deliver this attack, wasn't she?

"Okay." The former Nun turned to me. "I'll be right back, Onii-chan." The girl said and skipped out of the door.

"'Kay." I waved at her, and kept waving even after the door closed. I only stopped waving when her footsteps grew fainter down the hall. Then put both hands in my face. "By the Root of world and all its secrets! That girl is a W.M.D." Both girls still in the room giggled, reminding myself of their presence. "And you two instigated her, didn't you?"

The giggles turned into laughter.

"Are you two insane? Look at what you have done?" I pointed at the door. "She's a walking doomsday device!"

The crimson haired's head hit the table in front of her, laughing madly, while Himejima doubled over on her seat in front of me. I decided to wait for them to stop laughing so I could chastise them better, after noticing that anything I did at this point would be counterproductive.

Rias, after about a minute fighting bouts of laughter, said. "To be fair, we only said that if she thought that you looked like a big brother to her, and you were acting as one, the least she could do was call you like one, as well."

Himejima chimed in then. "Just be happy that she decided to not call you Nii-chama or Nii-tama." I shuddered imagining that. Yeah, okay, when they put it like that it was the lesser of two evils.

After taking a few moments to collect myself after surviving that attack, I turned to the President of the Club. She must have sensed that I switched gears, since she too stopped laughing and smirking a moment later. "Where are Kiba and Ise?" I asked.

"Out on contracts." The redhead said. "Have you come to a decision?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes. I did. As long as the pact is like you told me, I don't have any problem with it, provided that I can insert a few clauses."

"Yes. No problem." She pulled a notebook from the drawer. "What do you want to put in?"

"One. The pact is only valid until this job is done. After that it's nullified."

She nodded. "We had already estabilished that."

"Two. In case of impossibility of finish the contract, for whatever reason, it also causes the pact to be nullified."

She nodded again. "Also already in the contract."

I frowned. "Do you have the contract there?"

"Yes. I have the draft..." she fished inside the drawer again. "right here."

I forced myself not to facepalm. "Let me read it first and then if there are things I think must be changed, we'll talk."

"Sure, here."

She handed it to me. I had to will myself not to facepalm again. "Humm... Rias, I can't read this!" It was in the same scratchy lettering that the magic tomes in the library were written.

"Oh, right. Sorry." She pulled another copy. "Here."

This one at least was in Japanese. "Why didn't you handed this one first?"

She blushed. "My mistake. I wrote the draft without realizing that I wasn't using Japanese characters." To make a point of it, she took the paper back, crumpled it and, with a burst of prana, turned it into ashes.

I shook my head. Leave to a Devil to make a draft for a contract in a language different from the one the official one would be. Come to think of it. "Was those scratches the language of Hell?"

"Underworld." She leaned forward on her desk, cupping both hands on her chin, while supporting her elbows on the table. "We don't call it Hell, because of the connotations it has. It's not a place completely filled with fire and brimstone, like most people think. I mean, there are places that are like that, but they are more rare than you can imagine."

"I see, but is that the language of the Underworld?" I asked again.

"Kinda. It's actually based on Heaven's language, but after so much time, the language corrupted from it and both are significantly different from one another nowadays." She started explaining and when realized that I had blank look of confusion in my face she elaborated. "It's like how most languages based on Latin are similar enough, but they have so many differences that they are considered separate languages. Though us Devils can talk in any language known to humans, we need to study the written languages to be able to draft the contracts."

"What do you mean?"

"Devils, and Angels too, I guess, can understand and speak any spoken language by instinct. Of course there are some drawbacks to that, since human language evolves fast, sometimes slang and metaphor don't translate well in any way that we can understand, only literally. You have no idea the shame I felt the first time I visited the human world when I was a kid, and saw on a TV a slogan about push-up bras." She blushed and squirmed even thinking about the situation. "Anyway, its handy, but not a hundred percent."

"I see." Maybe it was some kind of translation spell inherent to their species? Something to ponder about when I have time. Right now I had a contract to review. I turned to look at it but it had actually only five clauses.

One. The pact is considered fulfilled the moment the contract attached with it terminates, either by fullfilling it or impossibility of fullfilling it.

Two, both parties reserve the right to sever the contract, provided the part that decides to sever the contract warns the other with a day of advanced warning.

Three, this pact will bind the souls of both parties to each other for the duration of the contract seen on article one.

Four, both parties can call on the powers of the other when given advanced foreknowledge and permission to do so.

Five, both parties are considered the same person for matters concerning contracts, with the exception of the current Pact, for the duration of the Pact.

Below that was my name and hers side by side and two spots for witnesses below our names.

Nothing about selling my soul, nothing about gaining new powers willynilly, nothing about offering the blood of virgins to an altar. Weird. Good weird, but still... Weird.

"To be honest," Rias began when she saw that I had reached the end of the contract. "this Pact is more of a formality, so the mother who made the contract with me can't weasel out of payment later because it wasn't me who brought it to completion. I don't think she will, but I need to make sure."

I nodded. "Okay. But who the witnesses will be?"

"Akeno will be mine. You can choose anyone you want to be yours."

I frowned, pondering on it. I didn't have many acquaintances in this world that could vouch for me in a Devil contract. Worse, most of them were part of Rias' Peerage, so they were automatically out. "Can you call Shitori, then?"

"Sona?" She raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you were close enough to her for you to trust her with something like this."

"I'm not," I grinned at her. "but she owes me a few favors for all the repairs I did around school, and I know she's stickler for rules."

"Okay. Just a sec." She pulled a cellphone from her pocket and dialed. "Sona, can you come to the clubroom right now? It's important and can't be delayed." A few seconds more. "Yes. It would be better." Another wait. "Okay. We'll be waiting."

I was prepared for wait for the girl for a few minutes, but in a flash of blue energy she appeared inside the clubroom not even a minute after Rias disconnected the call.

"Emiya-san!" She nearly jumped in place when she saw that I was in the room. "What is the meaning of this, Rias?" She demanded.

"Calm down. He's already aware of what we are. He's the one who saved Asia yesterday and saw the ceremony when I welcomed her to my Peerage." She lifted both hands in a placating manner. "I already explained to him most everything about Peerages, as well."

The bespectacled girl turned to look at me, narrowing her eyes a little. "I see." Then turned back to Rias. "And what it was so important and couldn't be delayed?"

The redhead pointed to me. "We are about to sign a pact, but he doesn't have a witness. He wanted you to be his."

Again the girl turned back to me, as if asking if that was true. I only nodded. She sighed deeply after a moment, then extended her hand. "Let me see this contract." I handed it to her the paper and she narrowed her eyes at me. "That's it?"

"Yes." I said, confused. "That was all that Rias handed me."

She looked at the paper, then turned as furious as I ever saw her to Rias. "What kind of joke is this, Rias?! There's no provisions for performance, compensation, benefits, nothing. It's only the bare minimum to make the binding pact stick!"

"And that's what we want. He doesn't want any more benefits aside from what he'll get from the compensation that is on the attached contract. And I don't want anything from him aside from what I'll get from that contract, as well." She argued.

"But this..." Then her eyes widened, realization downing on her eyes. "You want to use the loophole on the Wish Contract!" She said loosing her breath, then frowned. "Why?"

The redhead looked at me, then back at Shitori. "It's complicated. But I guarantee on my honor as a Gremory Heir that its nothing that will hurt either him, me or the Academy."

The girl grimaced at her, then at me. "And why do you want me to be your witness?"

"Because of that." I pointed at her hand. "You didn't even know what this was about and was already outraged by it. I trust you." She looked stunned by my admission. At least she covered better than Rin did when I did similar things with her. The Magus generally fired Gandrs at me when she sufficiently flustered. "And I kinda thought that I could cash in on a favor after all I've done for you." I smiled at her.

She coughed once. "Okay. I'll be your witness."

"Thank you, Shitori."

"But!" She said, her glasses glinted, a mischievous smile on her face. Something tells me I'll not gonna like what she's about to say. "Only if you call me Kaichou from now on when we are at school!"

Now that I thought about it. I rarely ever adressed her, but when I did, it was always by name. She had said to me before to address her as Kaichou, but it was so rare for me to be the one who initiated a conversation with her, that I honestly didn't really think about it. Apparently it was a sore point for her. "Sure, no problem, Kaichou!"

I honestly thought that she would be pleased with my concession, but the girl deflated instead, looking unsure. After a minute, she finally shook her head. "You know what? It's too weird to hear you saying that, I don't know why, but I change my request. Don't ever call me that again, okay?"

I tilted my head, confused. "If that's what you want."

Rias got up from her position behind the table and brought a wood tablet that reeked of prana. I fixed my attention on it, but the wood itself was unremarkable, the composition had nothing strange on it, aside from being cut from a thousand year old Oak that grew in the darkness of a forest that was somehow dark all year round. If it wasn't for the ammount of magical energy leaking from it, I would have confused it for a clipboard.

She put the slab of wood on the table and put the contract on top of it, before signaling for me to sit down beside her. When I did, Shitori sat beside me and Himejima beside Rias. The four of us facing the contract. It was somewhat cramped.

The Shrine Maiden took a normal ballpoint pen and signed her name above the position indicated, then Shitori did the same. Then Rias signed hers and passed the pen back to me.

I was expecting something to happen in the moment I signed. Some sort of flow of prana, or some ritualistic words being spoken by one them. There was nothing. For a moment I thought that maybe it had failed or worse, that it didn't had any visible signs that a Devil Pact was signed. That could be a problem, since signing anything could end up making someone part of a Pact without they even knowing.

All the worrying was for nothing though, since out of nowhere I felt my chest hot, making me almost loose my breath, and I felt the flow of my Od go haywire, everything felt like it was in slow motion. Then as abruptly as it came, it was gone. Only then I saw that the letters in the contract caught on fire, and were marking the wood below it with the exact terms of the contract.

Rias' voice cut through my musings. "Sona, can you be our safekeeper?"

"Me?" The girl frowned disaprovingly.

"Safekeeper?" I asked them.

"A Safekeeper is the one who guards the original contract after both parties have signed. It's usually a High-Class Devil or it can be transported to the Office of Heraldry on the Underworld automatically, or it can be negotiated in the contract itself who gets to keep the original." Shitori explained. "In this case, though, since the contract itself is so barebones, it wouldn't do to send it to them."

"Oh, so since you are a High-Class Devil, you can keep it for us?" I asked.

"Yes. I can, but this is highly irregular, since I'm also one of the witnesses." She grimaced then sighed. "But I can see why I should be the one to keep it."

"Thank you, Sona."

"Oh, don't thank me just yet. You owe me one after this, Rias." The bespectacled girl smirked, and if I had any doubt that she was a Devil, at that moment it was gone.

"I see. We'll negotiate something later, okay?" Rias winced in response.

"Oh, of course we will." She got up from her place, smoothed her skirt and jacket then turned back to us. "Now, if there isn't anything else?" I looked at Rias then at Himejima to see if they had anything to add. When none of us said anything else, Shitori nodded and reached for the slab of wood that was our Pact. "Then I'll be watching this. Have a good afternoon." She walked in the direction of the door, but instead of going through it, in a burst of prana she simply disappeared from sight midstep.

"Now," Rias said, getting up from her sit. "let's get down to business."

I shook off the sight of the girl disappearing, so different from when Rin and Zelretch did when they slided to other parallel worlds, that I was bewildered for a moment. "Yes. Can you tell me about the contract now?"

"I'll do better. We're going to talk with the mother." Rias had 'I'm going enjoy this' writen all over her face.

"Oh. Where she is?" I thought about it for a moment. Maybe she lived close to the school or was at a hotel. I got up from the couch. "We can go to her now, right?"

"No need." She pulled her phone again. "Hi, it's me. I've arranged everything. I'll be calling you now, is there a problem?"

I knit my brows again. Call? My question was answered before I managed to voice it, as another burst of prana lit up the room, but the smell of the power was different from Shitori's. It was wilder and had more in common with Koneko than it had with Rias or the other Devils. After the light died down, a woman wearing a yukata sat seiza-style on top of the middle table. She was beautiful, and had the image of a Nadeshiko with long silk hair cut with a hime cut right above her black eyebrows. She bowed respectfully to us, her perfectly manicured hands on top of the table pointing at each other in front of her prostrated body. Then she sat back up gave a nod to Rias then at Himejima.

"Welcome, Marlianna-san." Rias voice cut through my thoughts.

"Ah~ Ha~rou~ Ria-tan, Ake-tan" The voice was so childish and so much agaisnt her image that it threw me for a loop and I had the distinct feeling that the image I had of the woman had a rock had been thrown at and it broke like a glass pane punching a hole through it, to show the real image behind it. "It's this the one you talked about?" She said ponting at me. Himejima took that moment to get up and move to the corner where she usually made tea.

"Yes." She nodded. "Emiya Shirou." She introduced me. "Shirou, this one is our client, Senri Marlianna."

"Ah, a pleasure." I greeted the woman on reflex, still reeling from my earlier revelation.

"Pleasure is all mine, Shi-chan~!" She answered. Don't tell me this woman as an airhead. The way she acted and the way she presented herself were so at odds with each other that I couldn't help but grimace.

"Can you tell me everything you told me about your wish?" Rias cut in through my musings again.

It was like a switch flipped on the woman. One moment she was carefree and smiling, the other her face had closed down hard and now she looked more like how I expected a woman her age to act. Okay, maybe not an airhead but had multiple personalities.

Scratch that. I knew what that meant. She had entered a state similar to mine when I was in battle mode. Analysing the information and acting on it. "Yes. My two daughters disappeared three years ago." She started without preamble. "They were visiting relatives of mine in Kyoto when they were taken from there. No one saw anything about them, but I felt their presence diminish immediately."

I had to cut in at this point. "You felt their presence diminish?" The woman nodded. "How?"

She turned back to Rias, at the same time Himejima came back with a tray and four cups of tea. "Did you not explain anything to him?"

"No, I'm sorry I was remiss in that." The crimson haired girl turned back to me. "Marlianna-san is a Youkai, a Nekomata to be precise."

As if waiting for that information, two cat ears sprouted from her head and black tail made itself visible behind the woman.

I looked in disbelief at the her, fighting hard for my jaw not to hang, and losing the battle. Youkai? So they really existed here? When is this universe stop throwing curveballs my way?

"Yes. And like all Youkai we have a connection with all the members of our Clan. That's how I know that they are still alive, as well." She continued, explaining another thing that I'm sure I would ask later. "After that, I tried everything I could to find them, but to no avail. The connection I have with them is still active, but somewhat diminished now. I managed to track them down only six months ago, when they came back to the human world."

"Where they were before then?" I asked, confused. Wasn't I suppose to find the daughters for her?

"They were in the Underworld." She said, voice tinted with pain, but still held her face in a stoic mask. "They were turned into Devils and are part of a Peerage."

My eyebrows shot up, and I turned to Rias. She grimaced and shook her head.

"When I found them, they seemed strange, almost like they weren't my daughters at all. They looked at me blankly and not even bothered with greeting me before disappearing in a teleportation circle."

Rias then cut off the woman. "Until this point it was all I heard." She said. "Akeno." She signaled for the brunette, who nodded. "From here on out, its between the two of you. I can't hear anymore about it otherwise it would infringe in the contract I signed with her. We'll leave the room now."

Confused, my eyes drifted between the two of them. "But..." I was about to say that the Pact indicated that we were supposed to be the same person when it came to contracts.

As if reading my mind, she answered. "It doesn't have anything to do with our Pact. It's a personal matter."

I was still confused but nodded. After they both left the room, I was alone with the Youkai mother who moved from the table to the couch facing me. "My daughters were only fifteen when they were turned, and still were in the phase of their lives where they liked to prank humans and the play in the streets." She took a breath. "Once I found them, they were anything but that. Youkai law says that we are neutral when it comes to the War between the Three Christian Factions, and any of us that gets involved in them automatically renounces their rights with the Clan. So at first I thought that they were treating me coldly because they were already resigned to that."

The woman's voice was tinged with despair and regret. Only now I realized why she entered that state similar to my battle mode. She was trying to explain things for me in a detached manner, but some of her emotions were bleeding through.

"But even after I tried to talk to them, because if they weren't a part of our Clan anymore, they were still my daughters by blood. The connection we have, if they had renounced their positions in the Clan willingly, would be severed in that moment, but it didn't happen. The connection is still there, although diminished, but still exists. So they must have been forced to be reincarnated into Devils. There's no other explanation."

I hummed in response. "Then why turn to a Devil in this case? Couldn't you turn to your Clan for help?"

"I did. But as I said, all Youkai are neutral, and to demand an answer from the Devils would be an act that we don't have the political clout to make. In the end, the only thing they could do is provide me with the funds for me to act on my own. I'm treading thin to the line since depending on the results of this wish I made, the Devils could ask for my head. And even if they don't I won't be able to live with my daughters anymore either, now that they are Devils unless something drastic changes."

"Then what is your wish exactly?" I asked.

"What I want is to know what happened to them. If they really wanted to abandon me and the Clan or if they were coerced to do it, and if they are there against their will, I want to free them." She said after a moment. "I'm prepared to pay whatever you ask for it aside from what is already on the contract, and provide you with anything you'll need in the meantime."

That was... generous was not the word for it. Desperation, maybe? The cat-woman was grieving the loss of her daughters, when they weren't even dead yet. I think that actually made it worse.

"Very well." I said after a moment. "What are their names? Do you have a picture or some other way for me to identify them? Do you know the name of their King?"

She reached inside her sleeve and pulled a picture. In it the two cat-girls were smiling at the camera doing 'V' signs with one hand while the other arm was snaked around the woman in front of me, who too was smiling serenely at the camera. "Their are called Nirlianna and Lirnianna. Nirlianna is the one with blue hair and red eyes, and Lirnianna the one with red hair and blue eyes."

"They are twins?" I asked after commiting the image to memory.

"Yes, they are."

"I'll see what I can do, but as you must have realized by now, I'm only human. If they are back in the Underworld it may take time for me to get any news about them. Is that acceptable?" I asked, and only now I realized that I may have been duped by Rias. If the twins were on the Underworld I would have no way to get to them without help, and even if I get to go there to investigate, I can't imagine that a High-Class Devil with a Peerage would willingly let that information go free of charge. And in the meantime I was bound to her.

No, that didn't make sense. She was bound to me as well, and I could give the advance notice that I was going to break the Pact and get out of it scot-free at any time.

This didn't make sense. It would be easier for her to fullfill this contract than me. She could come and go from the Underworld as she pleased, right? She was a High-Class Devil with a Peerage of her own. I grimaced thinking on that.

"Yes. That is." The woman said, derailing my train of thought.

I had to take a breath to cover up that I was trying to recall what I had said to her. "Very well. May I keep the photo?"

"Yes." She said and reached inside her sleeve again. "Here." She delivered me a keyring with several keys on it. "It's the key for the house the Clan owns in this city. Rias mentioned that you are in between allocations, so if you could, use as you please in the meantime. There's a shrine in one of the rooms that you can use to contact me for any additional information."

I was about to return the keyring to her, because I didn't want to own another debt to Rias, even offhand like this, but the last tidbit made me pause. I had no real way of contacting her besides the number Rias got, and I may be a third rate magus, but some things are still ingrained in my mind. Like using technology when there are other methods of obtaining the same result.

After a moment I nodded. "Very well. I'll see what I can do." I paused for a moment looking at the keyring. "And thank you for your generosity."

The woman shook her head slowly. "No need to thank me. All I want is results." Her face was hard when she said that.

Well, it wasn't the type of Bounty work I was used to, but I couldn't really leave this alone after all she said.

I think with this I one-upped Archer again. He and I were always the muscle, leaving the investigation for the others and only been called up when things were bad and shit hit the fan.

It was a nice feeling. Help someone without the need to battle through countless mindless creatures.

* * *

I want to go back to a few hours ago and kick myself hard in head just for thinking about returning the set of keys for this house. It was like a dream come true for me, and I felt giddy just stepping inside the foyer.

After Marlianna teleported herself back to wherever her house was, I spent a good few hours trying to talk to Rias about the contract but she steadfastly refused to do it. Not even Himejima could answer the questions I had about the situation, citing that as member of Rias' Peerage she was bound to the same laws as she was.

That automatically rules out the other members of her Peerage too. I was thinking of talking with Koneko about it, but a combination of that fact and the usual one-word answers that she could give me even it there wasn't that drawback, discouraged me to.

So, I went to the next best thing. Shitori. To say that she was furious with both me and Rias when I explained the situation was to put it mildly. Even the usual calm and collected Shinra and the lovestruck Saji were left gaping at the choice of words that the Student President delivered to me during her verbal beatdown.

I think some of them weren't even in Japanese, because I honestly have no idea what a Beat Bug is, when she compared my intelligence to be lower than one of those.

When I finally managed to calm her down enough to answer some of my questions the bell for the end of the day chimed and we had to adjourn the meeting that hadn't even began. When I mentioned that I needed to move my stuff from my apartment to the house that I was lent, she offered to help, but I own so little that I felt bad for her even suggesting it.

I waved her off and left the room and the school, but for some reason Asia and Koneko were waiting for me at the gate, the blonde holding her suitcase again. I have no idea if it was a new one, or if at some point they went back to the destroyed church to retrieve it. By what she was telling me, Asia spent so much time moving boxes on the clubroom with Koneko, and later with Rias and Himejima explaining the finer points of being a Devil to her that they all forgot that the girl still didn't have a place to stay.

When she asked me again to stay at my house, I had to relent, lest those dreadded doed big eyes begged me again. Those things are dangerous, I tell you. Koneko being with her at the gate was less explainable though. I thought at first that she was simply keeping the blonde company until I arrived, but then she continued to accompany us down the street in the direction of my house, which I knew for certain that wasn't hers.

I shrugged at that, and decided to ask about if she too was a Nekomata before being turned, since the scent of her power was almost the same as Marlianna-san. She said she was a Nekoshou and stopped there. It was hard to have a conversation with her.

After swinging by my apartment, gathering all my things, which ammounted to three sets of casual clothes and two school uniforms, a few pans and cuttlery, and a futon, I had to shed a tear as I realized that everything I have in this world ammount to a little more than what was on Asia's suitcase when I first met her.

I bundled everything on top of the futon, rolled it and tied together, before carrying it to the house that had been lent to me. It was actually closer to school than my apartment, but it was from another angle, so we had to walk all the way up the street that led to school, before making a turn and go down again.

By the time we got to the house, it was already more than seven o'clock. The wall surrounding the place was solid and high, even higher than the one back at my home. The entrance gate was closed with a chain and padlock, but the gate itself was in terrible condition, almost falling off the hinges.

When I finally managed to open the thing, after battling with the padlock and almost breaking the key on it, the sight that greeted me was of desolation. It was completelly overrun with weeds, and with no lights on, I gave an ominous feeling, like I was about to enter a haunted house. In some ways, that was actually true.

And that's how I got here. The interior of house was pristine, like it had been recently cleaned, and it had working electricity. When I tried to turn on the switch at the fuse box, the whole house lit up, blinding me. The girls winced at the brightness, because according to Asia, Devils could see in the dark, and didn't need light at all.

In fact, she didn't even realized that we were in the dark when I opened the door until after I flipped the switch.

It was a big Japanese styled house, not actually as big as my own home, but it had a cozy feeling. One story, with a honest to god kitchen separated from the main dining room. A living room and four bedrooms. One master bedroom and three smaller ones. Two bathrooms and a big large bath. It was a dream come true. And best of all, it was already furnished.

I could already picture myself living here, without problems. I would need to take the time to clean the courtyard and make a few repairs on the tatami mats and a few other little things I noticed, but it was a better place to live than I couldn't have asked for.

When I got back to the living room, after putting my stuff on one of the bedrooms, no way I'm using the master bedroom after all, I entered the kitchen only to be greeted by the sight of Asia, trying to pull something out of the oven while Koneko sat at the lowtable on the dining area.

Deciding on a course of action, I went to the former nun and asked. "What are you doing?"

The girl yelped and jumped in place. Really, for a Devil to be scared so much of voices cutting through the silence didn't bode well for her continued existence. "O-Onii-chan?" She asked while letting a pan that was what she was removing from the oven fall down.

I winced, but pressed on. "What are you doing, Asia?"

"I-I-..." She stuttered a little but didn't finish the sentence.

"I have to go grocery shopping." I said, realizing that waiting for her to end her sentence would take too much time.

"Ah!" That seemed to cut through whatever was going through her mind, as she stopped stammering and smiled brightly at me. "There's no need. The pantry is full."

I raised an eyebrow. Why would the pantry be full? It didn't make any sense, however when I opened the door for the cabinet, sure enough it had all kinds of ingredients and spices.

Out of nowhere, a hand appeared with a note in my face. Looks like Asia isn't the only one to be jumpy at the moment, because I too jumped to the side when the hand suddenly appeared. Koneko's hand was holding the piece of paper for me, looking nonplussed at my reaction.

"Present." She said and I breathed deeply to calm my heart.

I got the note and turned over. Apparently Marlianna was expecting me to use the house, so she had already called her servants in the morning to clean it. I think they must have thought their master was going to come here too, since they also brought food and other amenities to it.

I almost felt bad about it, but the end of the note said for me not to worry and use it. Until the end of the contract, I could continue here. If I was any other sort of person, I could simply not fullfill the contract and reap the benefits of it during the meantime.

But that went against everything I am, so the fleeting thought was smashed before it even landed.

"Well, why don't the two of you go to the living room and wait a little. I'll try to make something with what we have here."

"Oh." The blonde deflated at my remark. "Okay." I felt really bad for some reason. I had the distinct feeling I had just kicked a puppy into the path of an oncoming storm.

"What's wrong, Asia?"

"I just thought that since you cooked for us yesterday and this morning, I could cook for you today." She had her head cast down, so I couldn't really see her eyes, but the tone of voice was enough for me to realize that she was earnest with that.

"Let's make a deal then." I said after a moment. "I'll prepare dinner tonight, and you can do it tomorrow. How's that sound?"

Her head lifted instantly, her eyes litting up like headlights cutting through the darkness. "Yes. Thank you!"

That, of course, meant that the girl would have to come here tomorrow as well. I ruefully shook my head at the thought, then turned back to the kitchen, feeling giddy.

I finally had a decent kitchen to cook in this world. Not comparing with the cafeteria, since it was designed for mass produce food. Right here it was what I was used to. A family kitchen.

I think I should be allowed a manic laugh at this point.

After dinner, and what ammounted to food for seven people, what with Koneko at the table, I pulled the girl aside when Asia insisted in doing the dishes. We were sitting around the table, drinking an aftermeal tea, when I asked her. "So, you're a Nekoshou, right? Is that a type of Youkai too?" She nodded. "Different from a Nekomata?"

She tilted her head to the side a little. "Same. Different."

Okay, how do I parse that from Koneko-speak to normal language. "So you are a Nekomata, but you are different from Marlianna?"

She nodded. "Stray."

"You were a stray?"

Another headbob. "No Clan."

"So Nekoshou is just a different name for Stray Youkai?"

A headshake. "Race."

"Your race is called Nekoshou then?" Another headbob. "What's the difference?"

Another tilt of her head, then she looked up, then down, then at me again. Then returned her head to the normal position upright again. Then shrugged.

I put a hand on my face, fighting the oncoming headache. Either she didn't know or it would take more than a single word for her to answer and she decided to not answer at all. I'll ask Marlianna or Rias about it some other time.

I wanted to ask about the twins, but from the way the conversation had gone so far, I knew that she wouldn't answer me. And even if she could, she's part of Rias' Peerage. Whatever was holding the redhead back, this girl wouldn't be able to tell me anyway. I thought about asking about the pieces and the Peerage as well, but then her usual reticence would make me want to bang my head agaisnt the wall.

In the end, I gave up, and continued to wait in silence with her, until Asia came back. I was thinking that maybe Koneko had come to keep the blonde company during the night, but as soon as I declared that we should go to bed, the girl got up, turned to the door and said. "Night." And left before me or Asia could say anything.

After staring at the door for a few seconds, I shrugged. It wasn't that late anyway, and she should be okay, since she was a Devil too.

"Onii-chan. Where are we going to sleep?" The blonde's question left me confused.

"In this house?" I said. "Why, is there a problem?" I asked. Maybe she also thought that Koneko would sleep with her, and that's why she came with us?

"No. I mean, which room?" Again, I tilted my head to the side. True, I still only had one futon, but if the servants that had cleaned the house took the time to fill the cupboards with food, then surely there must be other futons already on the wardrobes, right?

"Let's see." I said after thinking about it. I got into the first bedroom on the corridor and went to the closet. Sure enough, there were two futons there. I pulled one of them out and laid it down on the floor. "You can sleep here."

She looked around the room then turned to me. "And what about you?"

"I'm going to sleep in the other room, down the hall." I smiled encouragingly at her, before patting her head again. "If you want to take a bath first, I can draw one for you."

She looked down again, but nodded. I went to the living room, caught her suitcase and left it at the room, then turned back to the room I had commandeered and pulled out my schoolbag, going back to the living room with it. I was still a student and needed to do my homework.

After waiting for almost half an hour, Asia came back to the living room, hair drapped on a towel, and sat down in front of me. "Feeling good?" I asked.

She nodded, redfaced from the bath. "Yes. It was wonderful. Thank you."

I waved the pencil I was holding at her. "No need to thank me." I got up. "I'll take mine now." Before I was halfway out of the room, I remembered something that had been my bane at the beggining of my living arrangements with Rin and Sakura. "Humm, Asia, did you put your used clothes in the basket, right?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"And that includes your underwear, right?" I asked, trying to lead her to the point in question.

"Yes." Again a nod. I waited looking at her. I had to wait for ten seconds with her looking at me, then tilting her head, then realization finally struck and she sat bolt upright, the redface she had this time definitely wasn't because of the bath. "I'm going to gather my things now."

"Sure."

After dodging what could be possibly another bullet, I went and took my bath. When I came back the former Sister had fallen asleep at some point, with her body tilted forward on the table. I thought about waking her up, but the kid just had a pretty exhausting day, what with all the new enviroment and the things that Rias must have taught her.

So I went to the room that I had prepared the futon earlier, straightened it up, and got back to her again. "Asia." I said softly, while shaking her lightly.

She was out like a light. Either she was a heavy sleeper or the day had really taken its toll on her. I shifted her and got her on my arms, carrying her back to the futon, then tucked her in. She was smiling the whole time, so I think that she was having a good dream. I smiled despite myself, got up and turned off the lights. "Night, Asia." I closed the door behind me and went to the other room.

Unfurling my own futon that I had brought, I set it on the floor and left it there, going back to the living room and gathering my school books and returning again to the room.

That night, sleep didn't came easily for me as it usually did. Normally I could sleep anywhere, requirement to a life in the battlefield, but tonight, despite the comfort my body felt, my mind wasn't so letting me sleep.

It took me a while to understand why. One of my magic circuits was open. I don't remember leaving it open after the pencil incident with the perverts, but it was undistinguishably open, and leaking a trace ammount of Od from it. I grimaced, following the trail of prana with my mind, trying to find what it was doing, when I noticed that it was actually going inside myself.

Odd, considering that I hadn't Reinforced myself for nothing too. Pulling on the thread, little by little, I found where exactly the Od was going. My Soul. Then it hit me, the Pact. Rias' Soul was connected to mine, so I tried to feel her connection to me using the same method that I used to tail my own Od to her.

I found it easily enough. The feel of the Devil power that I was feeling ever since the contract wasn't because I was around a Devil the whole time ever since signing it. With Asia now in another room I could feel it through the link. Rias' power was there, just waiting for me to use it.

It was strange. I knew that other Magi could analyse the Soul of others, to judge the ammount of circuits they had and to explain concepts to them. Rin did it with me at the beginning of the Grail War, but it wasn't a skill that I had ever pursued. It wasn't as important and, as a third-rate Magus, there was almost nothing I could do with such a skill. I knew how to do a Soul Dive, but that was frowned upon by the Mage Association because one could get lost easily when Diving, and didn't have a strong enough mind to return to his own body.

But right now, with Rias' Soul open to me, I could understand why it was such an important concept to learn. To look into another person Soul, or Devil in this case, was such a monumental task that just peeking at it made me reel back. It was almost like trying to analyse a particularly old Noble Phantasm, with the ammount of history that there was written in her Soul.

It was an invasion of privacy, in the end, so after that little peek, I should have pulled back, should have not concentrated anymore. But there was something there that made me go into shock. Rias had-

"Onii-chan, are you awake?" A voice from inside the room my body was laid brought me out of the connection I was delving into. It took me a moment to understand where I was, disoriented. I was also sweating bullets.

"Yes, Asia." I immediately realized that there was something wrong with this picture. I jumped out of the bed and expanded my senses around the house to see if there was intruders. When I found nothing different, I asked. "What's wrong?"

She fidgeted by the door. Her eyes peeked out from behind the pillow she was holding around her body like it was a plushie doll. I finally let my heart calm down when I realized what she wanted.

I smiled ruefully at myself, before saying. "Let me get the other futon in here."

She smiled shyly at me, probably because I guessed her right. I patted her head as I passed to the hallway. After adjusting the Futons on both side of the room I told her to get back to sleep, while I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. My throat was parched after peaking into Rias' Soul through our connection and the subsequent rude awakening from the trance I was under during it.

But after a revelation like that, how was I supposed to feel? It was another thing that I don't undestand in this world. Magical beings like her weren't supposed to, but she has it too.

I was musing about that when I returned to the room only to find that Asia was fast asleep. Only she was on my futon, instead of hers. I shook my head at that, tucked her in and got down on her futon. After shifting a little at the unfamiliar feeling, I closed my eyes. I thought about following the trail of Od again, but decided against it. It could be problematic if I somehow ended up lost inside Rias' Soul, without preparation to be pulled back in case something went wrong.

* * *

Somehow I wasn't surprised when, in the morning, I found Koneko in the doorstep. I just waved her in, and she immediately went to the dining room and sat herself in the same spot as she did last night. Apparently Nekomatas have more in common with cats than just their appearance. She had, despite her stoicism, the same spontaneity of a cat that you could find everywhere.

After we ate breakfast, I managed to wrangle a compromise with Asia who wanted to prepare a lunchbox for me, seeing as I still had only one. I would pass by a convenience store and buy another lunchbox and a meal for myself. I was about to conveniently forget about that promise in the way to school when Koneko made a turn we weren't expecting and went inside one such store.

In the end, I had to buy the itens I had promised. We were actually cutting it close when we arrived at school, what with the way Koneko kept staring at the displays of snacks and refusing to budge from the place until I gave in and bought her two bags of chips.

Seriously, she must never be in the same room as Saber and Fuji-nee. If the world doesn't end with the paradox, I'll be hard pressed to keep the three of them fed.

When we arrived at school, I didn't even had time to go find Shitori or Rias. We went directly to class. I had PE today too, unfortunately. Its not that I don't like the exercise, far from it. My problem with PE is that I have to hold back a lot, otherwise people will start making questions. Passable grades were better than be the star of the Track Team or the Archery Club. I really didn't want to a repeat of the problems I had with Mitsudzuri when I went to High School before.

The good thing was that after PE it was the lunch break. The bad thing was that I had to expend more time cleaning, the gym and myself both, after a match of three on three basketball with the guys. With me, there were only six guys on the third year, total. So during PE, all the third years classes get together and the guys are given a ball or some other task like running around the track field. The teacher doesn't even bother with us much.

Anyway, after spending fifteen minutes of my lunchbreak cleaning the gym, and another ten to clean myself, I was going back to the classroom when I heard the giggling like bells that I'm coming to associate with a certain blonde haired ex-Nun. I took the time to peek in the corridor, then at her classroom through the window of the door.

She was eating lunch with her classmates, so that was good. Apparently the conversation was being kept going by the other girls, but they made sure to include Asia in them as well. I smiled despite myself then turned to go back to my original plan of going to my own classroom, when I caught sight of the Perverted Trio, looking out the window at something in the school grounds.

Curious, I looked down there as well and saw a whole bunch of girls at the gate with clothes that were either straight out of a fetishist mind or someone was having a cosplay party and they lost their way to it. The three's comments about how one was 'hot' or the other 'had bigger boobs than Himejima-senpai' were lost to me as I finished climbing the stairs to retrieve my lunch. Whatever was happening at the front gates, I'm sure Shitori would be on hand to deal with it.

My lunch, if could be called as such, my me want to retch. It was awful. I don't know who in their right mind eat these things. Too much food preserving chemicals and spices designed to mask the flavor of something that didn't have much flavor in the first place. I ate it all, just so Asia wouldn't feel bad about it, but by Zelretch's fake beard, I'm never eating these again if I can help it. I could just have gone to the school cafeteria if something like this happened again.

I was waiting for the first signal for classes to begin, while sitting on a bench on the rooftop. These people are weird. The rooftop is a great place to sit back and enjoy the breeze after a meal, but its always empty. In the whole time I've been here, I never found anyone here or anyone ever come to rooftop after I was already here, with the exception of Furukawa-chan that one time, but she was the one who called me that time too.

I recalled yesterday, when Asia told me that I had a reputation of being 'scary' around school. Maybe someone had come and decided to not spend time with me in the vicinity? If that was true, I felt bad. I mean, how did I even get that reputation in the first place?

The afternoon classes came and went, and I made good on my promise to go the Student Council Room to ask a few questions about Devils from Shitori. I knocked at the door, and after a moment, Nimura answered, looking somewhat like a mouse that had been just staring in the face of a python and had the good fortune that the snake decided to spare it.

Puzzled by it, I decided not to mention and only greeted her. "Good afternoon. Is Shitori in?"

She only nodded at me, still reacting mechanically. What the hell happened for her to be so scared? She stepped back and allowed me to enter the room, where Shitori was talking to a honest to Akasha maid. Like, a woman wearing a French Maid Outfit straight out of a cosplay café. That made me realize that maybe she was one of the cosplayers that were at the gate earlier and they were talking about it.

"Ah, Emiya-san." The bespectacled President greeted me, and she too looked more like she was using me to get away from whatever was happening than to greet me per see.

"Good afternoon, Shitori. Is now a bad time?" I asked. Only now, that I looked again at the woman that was beside her, I saw her displeased face turn to me and a wave of scent of power she exuded washed over me. It sent me on edge immediately. It was equal in type to Shitori and Rias, so at first I thought that I was feeling things, because of my connection to one while in a room with the other, but now there was no mistaking it. This woman as a Devil as well, and she was powerful. More than any of the beings I have encountered so far in this universe. It was in a Dead Apostle level. Almost what I would expect to find in a Type-Moon or Mercury. I never fought either, but what I was feeling from this woman, was on that level.

And she was tightly reigning in that power. Only her displeasure with my interruption was enough to make her leak some of her leashed powers so I could feel its intensity. Luckily, Shitori cut in before I did something reckless. "Ah, no. It's okay, Emiya-san. Grayfia-san was just explaining some things for me. She was already leaving."

"Oh. Okay. Do you want me to come back later, then?" I asked.

"No!" Her voice was a little louder than her normal tone, before she reigned it in. "No. There's no need. We can start in a minute."

I nodded at that, then turned to the woman. "I'm sorry for the late introduction. Emiya Shirou. Shitori has been kind enough to help me with some personal matters." I bowed to her.

A spark of recognition flickered on her face. "Oh, so you- No. I'm sorry as well. Grayfia Lucifuge, Emiya-sama." She bowed in greeting and then turned back to Shitori. "This is as things stand right now, Sona-sama. Please, do not interfere, are we understood?"

"Yes." The girl said. "No problem. Neither me nor my Peerage will interfere in this matter."

The woman narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything else. She walked to the door, turned and bowed again. "Have a good afternoon, Emiya-sama. Sona-sama." She left after that without even acknowledging the rest of the Council.

"Who-" I started to ask, but was cut by Shitori.

"The wife of the current Lucifer. And the sister-in-law of the one who you currently have a Pact with." The girl answered.

I must have looked stunned by the revelation, because I was. So that was Rias' sister-in-law, huh? No wonder Rias' thought that she could be stronger enough to recruit me sometime in the future, since she has a model like that in a sister-in-law. So her brother must be a- Wait.

I started laughing. "I'm sorry, I must be misinterpreting something. I think I heard you say that Rias' brother is the current Lucifer. As in the Satan of the Bible?"

"That's correct. He's one of them. There-"

I cut her off right there. "'One' of them? There's more than one?"

"Yes. There's four." Then she scrunched her eyes and looked at me disbelieving. "Wait, didn't Rias explained about Devils and the Great War?"

"Great War?" I parroted.

"I'll take that as a no." She sighed, then righted herself. "So, I think before we can start on your questions, I think a little history lesson is in order."

I nodded slowly, wide-eyed at the girl.

And what a tale it was. Resuming it into as few points of interest as possible, she explained to me about the war between the Angels, Fallen and Devils, the ceasefire that still holds to this day, the Civil War that erupted on the Underworld after it, were the original four Maous were killed, and four others rose in their place, one of them being Shitori's own sister. The four Maous, Sirzechs Lucifer, Serafall Leviathan, Ajuka Beelzebub and Falbium Asmodeus, were the ones that killed the former holders of the titles during the Civil War after the originals were killed during the Great War between Heaven and the Underworld. Now they governed the Underworld and their power was unmatched.

But a problem arose because of the Civil War, too many Devils had perished during the conflict and they were on the verge of extinction, so in order to bolster their numbers back up, Ajuka Beelzebub devised a way to create new Devils from other mortals. The Evil Piece system.

What was originally just a way to repopulate their part of the Underworld, soon turned into a way for Devils to measure their strenght against one another, in a simulation of war known as a Rating Game. She even said that she could show me a few matches that she had recorded for me to understand how it worked. It even had commentators and pundits for the things. It sounded more like a sport than a battle simulation.

After explaining all that, I finally was able to ask a few of the questions that would pertain to my current missing person, err, missing youkai case. First and foremost. "I know that the process to turn a human to Devil is irreversible, but is the same for other creatures? Like the Youkai or the Fallen?" I was starting to have a nagging feeling in my gut, but it wasn't about our current conversation. It was like trying to remember something I saw in a dream. It was there but out of my reach.

"Yes. To my knowledge the process is irreversible. It's not actually the Evil Piece that turns a person into a Devil, but its the catalyst for the ritual. After that, the piece functions as a regulator for the new Devil to get acclimated with the new form. That's why the best thing for a new Devil is to be kept near the King, at least at first." She paused then added. "And to my knowledge, there was never a Fallen turned into a Devil. I don't know if the spell doesn't work on them or if there were really never a Devil who sucessufully negotiated with one, or some other reason."

"I see." That nagging was getting stronger, but I plowed forward anyway. "You said that a King doesn't have complete control over a Devil, but they can order them to do something if they want." It was more close to slavery than I confortable with.

"Yes. Command. It's possible, but rarely ever used by any King. You see, us Devils are beings of Desire, so using Command too much may make a Piece lose their Desires, consequently losing their power. If they expect to receive a Command at any moment, why should they desire anything, if they can't have it. Free Will is one of the reasons why Reincarnated Devils tend to grow more powerful more quickly than Pure-Blood Devils. They are used to living barely a century, while a Pure-Blood Devil can live for several millenia. The oldest Devil alive has more than thirteen thousand years."

I left out a impressed whistle. That's older than the recorded human history. "I see." I grimaced correlating the information. "And what about spell that control other Devils, beside Command? I suppose they should exist as well." Another tug in my mind, and I frowned again. What is this?

"They do, but they are called puppet strings for a reason. There's a connection with the caster that continuosly needs to be fed for the spell to continue working. That trail of prana is not something that we can ignore easily. Also because it-" My mind blanked at this point.

I was already moving before my mind even realized what my body was doing. I ran to the window opened and jumped outside, Reinforcing my legs and dashing in the direction of the Occult Research Club. Something was happening with Rias. That nagging feeling was her tugging at my flow of Od.

I managed to get to the club just in time to hear a loud crash. Reinforcing my legs to the limit I homed in the door and kicked open.

I processed the image in a flash. The room was full. All the cosplayers I saw earlier during the day were inside the room. Ise was about to receive a blow to the head by one of these new girls. The red gauntlet was again on his wrist. Kiba was beside the table where Rias was sitting behind, at the other side was Himejima, and behind her was the maid that was at the Student Council Room earlier. On a couch, with his legs crossed and smirking was the source of all the loathing I was feeling from Rias since before. Koneko had her arm extended to side protectively of Asia who was-

"Trace on!" In the next instant, seven minor Holy Swords used during the Crusades were poised to skewer his mouth, right eye, neck, heart, groin, femural artery and spleen, while there were other swords poised to strike everyone I didn't know in the room. Kanshou and Bakuya formed in my hands.

"Wag-!" The girl finished hitting Ise on the head, but fell on her butt as the sword appeared in front of her. There were other shrieks of surprise around the room as well.

Only after doing that I felt the power of the people inside the room. All of them were Devils. And the smirking guy sitting on the couch was a Pure-Blood. "Are you alright?" I asked looking directly at Rias. The feeling of relief from her was something so palpable that I don't know if it came from our link or just from her eyes.

"Yes. We're alright, Shirou." She said, despite her face betraying nothing.

"What is this?" The guy said, and I made the swords grow closer to his face, without looking at him.

I turned to the Maid that was watching the whole thing. "I'm sorry for the interruption, but my partner was in distress and I acted before thinking." I bowed to the woman. "Can I know why was she in such distress that our link went haywire? Or why is my sister cowering in the corner?"

She was about to say something else when she tilted her head to the side. "Your sister?"

I pointed with Bakuya to the little Nun behind the couch that led to the kitchen.

"What is the meaning of this?" The guy tried again, but I'm sure he could feel the Holy power for the swords, so the most he did was move his hands.

"I see." The woman said ignoring the guy sitting on the couch. "Well, I'm sorry, Emiya-sama, but this is a matter between the Gremory Clan and the Phenex Clan. We can't allow outsiders to get involved."

I grimaced. "I see. As long as it does not make her feel such distress again as to make me loose my senses and act on instinct, I see no problem. Have a good afternoon." I said, snapping my fingers, and dismissing my swords. "I'll take my leave now."

"Oh~ So that's your Sister, huh?" The guy said. "I'll be sure to make her squeal when I have my-" He didn't finish the words, because Ise punched him hard. Whatever I thought about the pervert, he's going a long way to change my views of him.

But he was clearly outmatched. Before the girls around could move, I was already on top of the redhaired man, Durandal traced and poised to strike him. "One more word about my sister, and I'll forget that there's a demon of a Devil dressing as a maid in the corner and shred you up in some many pieces that your girls'll need a vacuum cleaner to recover all that's left."

To my surprise, the guy wasn't cowed by my obvious killing intent or even the sword on my hand. He put his own hand on the sword blade, and it hissed as it burned his skin and held on to it. "Do you even know who are you talking to human?" The way he said that word reminded me a little too much of the Fallen. That couldn't be a good thing. He started to walk into the sword with every step. "I'm Riser Phenex, Heir of the Phenex Clan of the Seventy-Two Pillar. I am a descendant of the Phoenix. I am immortal."

I was about to press the sword again, just to see how much an immortal could take, when the maid appeared beside both of us. "Emiya-sama, cease this foolishness."

I was with my eyes still locked on the pretender, but took a step back and dismissed Durandal. "As I said, as long as no one acts or says anything that make me act on instinct, I see no problem, Grayfia-san." All the while, my eyes never left him.

"Shut up, human."

"Not to you." I said evenly, then broke eye contact with him and turned my back to him, clearly dismissing him as a threat and looked at Asia. She was still behind Koneko, but now the former Nekomata wasn't with her arm raised anymore.

I swept my eyes back to Rias and nodded. Now she knew that whatever would happen in this room she could just tug at our connection and call me.

I was about to leave the room when something nagged at my attention. I looked at each of the girls in turn, to see if any would attack me, but paused when I saw a pair of faces that was my mind. "You've got to be kidding me." Blue hair, red eyes. Red Hair, blue eyes. I turned back to Rias. "Is that why you couldn't accept the contract? Because you already knew where they were?"

Rias, for her credit, at least had the decency to look down embarassed. She gave a minute nod.

"What are you talking about, Emiya-sama?" The maid Devil asked.

I turned back to the maid Devil. "I'm sorry, Grayfia-san. It appears that I still have reason to be here in this room."

"And those are?" She asked me, raising an eyebrow.

"Nirliana and Lirniana." I pronounced their names slowly, while pointing to the two girls. Not because I wanted to make clear, but because they were hard to pronounce as hell. "I was contracted by their mother to find them and check on their situation."

"Ni and Li?" One of the twins that were holding chainsaws earlier asked, oblivious.

"I don't know their current names." I said. "Only that I was contracted by their mother."

"Who are those, nya?" The redhead Nekomata said.

"No idea." The blunette answered, and they both smiled at me.

I narrowed my eyes at both of them. "Grayfia-san. If possible I would like confirm with the mother if these two are really not her daughters."

"Hey!" The guy cut in. "No one messes with what's mine. Get out of here, outsider. You have nothing to do what's happening here."

The woman shook her head. "I'm sorry, but what he says is true, Emiya-sama. This meeting concerns only the two Clans."

"I see. May I ask about what is the meeting about at least?" I asked again.

"The arranged marriage between Riser-sama and Rias-sama." She said.

I nodded and grimaced. Great, I just burst open a door during an omiai. I was about to reach for the door again when a thought occured to me. "Tell me, Grayfia-san. Is this arranged marriage set in stone, as in there's a contract agreed by the two families?"

"Yes, Emiya-sama. It's all legal and registered between the two Clans." The woman answered dutifully.

I closed the door that I was going to, then turned heel and sat on the table in front of Rias. "Then you can go ahead." I said smiling at the woman.

"Emiya-sama, I just said that this is between the two Clans. You are an outsider. You can't-"

I cut her off. "According to the Pact signed between me and Rias, with two witnessess, I am to be considered the same as Rias in any matters that concern contracts. It wasn't defined what type of contracts on the Pact. So, as long as that contract between the two Clans exist, it does concern myself."

She narrowed her eyes and I swear I saw amusement on them. "I see."

"What?!" The guy said again. "You can't be serious."

"Unfortunately it is true. I saw the Pact tablet myself when I went to visit the Sitri Heir." The woman said turning to him. "As long as his contract with Rias-sama exists, he has the right to continue here. If the attached contract is fulfilled then the bond disappears immediatelly."

"And what is the attached contract?" He asked.

"Don't know. It wasn't in the documents, but assuming from his earlier outburst, it has to do with both ladies there, or someone similar to both of them."

The guy grimaced. At this point he could simply let me call Marlianna-san and we could get done with it, but he simply didn't. I knew about a Devil's Pride, but it would uncomplicate things if he simply let them meet their mother.

I grimaced and looked at them. The way they were acting, there was no way they were completely obedient to him through the use of Command. They still had desires. I could see on their eyes. Did Devil's had amnesia? Did Youkai? There wasn't a puppet connection between the two and Riser as well, so no control spell.

"If you let me call my client here, we could discover if they are really Nirliana and Lirniana or not, then I would be out of your hair." I shrugged. "Your call."

"Who are those, nya?" Again the redhead Nekomata said.

"No idea." The blunette answered in kind. They were smiling mischievously at me, though. Probably trying to get me to lose my temper again. Tough luck for them.

"I already said that no one messes with what's mine, Human!" The guy said, trying to sound threatening.

"And the last one who said that to me in that tone lost his heart from his ribcage." I answered completely calm.

His temper was about to flare again, when one of the girls put a hand on his bicep and he visibly pushed his temper back in check. Then turned to Rias and sneered. "We'll resolve this on the Rating Game, Rias. You'll be mine. You and all your little sluts."

I frowned. Seriously? Can this guy get any more obnoxious? Rias answered in kind though. "I'll show you that my Peerage is more than a match for yours."

He laughed loudly. "We'll see. Take a good shower before the fight. I like it clean." He leered at her and I had interpose myself.

"Wait, stop, stop right there. What's this about a Rating Game?" I turned to the maid again. "I'm sorry but I think I got in the carriage with tram already rolling."

She looked blankly at me. "What does entering a transportation has anything to do with this, Emiya-sama?"

It was my turn to look at her blankly then recalled my converstation yesterday in this same room with Rias. "I mean that I seem to have missed most of the discussion earlier."

"Ah." She nodded. "Rias-sama has agreed to a Rating Game with the arranged marriage on the line with Riser-sama. If he wins, then Rias-sama has to go back to the Underworld and marry him immediately."

I raised an eyebrow, then turned to Rias who didn't meet my eyes. Then back at the woman. "Well, as I said before, the Pact-"

She cut me off. "Does not cover a Rating Game, Emiya-sama. Even if it did, only Devils can participate in a Rating Game."

"I see. But..." I started trying to find something to reel the situation in my favor. She was about to dismiss me, when it came. "Participating in the Rating Game is prohibited, correct?" She nodded. "But what about the wager? It's a formal wager between the two, correct? So it's a contract, as well. Being a contract, I like to have my own say on it."

"And what you want? Recant her decision?" She asked. I gotta hand it to the woman. She was a Devil through and through. Devils liked to debate and try to curry advantages for themselves using words instead of swords. At least, that's what I imagined them to do. This one was doing exactly that, despite having the power to match probably a Servant at the height of their power.

"No. Nothing like that." I said. "I can't unmake her decision after all. I can however ask to be added another term to the wager."

She already saw where I was going with this, but asked anyway. "And what are your terms?"

"If Rias wins the Rating Game, aside from leaving the marriage contract, I want the right to stab each and every single one of his Peerage with a blade of my choosing in the arm in front of at least one higher ranked member of each Clan discounting present company." I said, and all the girls paled. "In the arm." I repeated. "I don't want to kill them. And after I do that I want to ask them if they want to continue being part of Riser's Peerage." The woman knitted her brows at that very specific request. "If Rias loses, then..." I lifted my hand before me. "Trace on." Gae Bolg formed in my hands, and the reaction was instantaneous to everyone who hasn't seen the weapon already. Even they pulled back a little, but with the exception of the Maid, all the newcomers huddled in a corner. "I'll give this weapon to Riser as a wedding gift."

I released the spear, and I could hear whimpering and whispers of 'what in the Maous name was that', 'this is ridiculous' and 'I think I peed myself'. That last one from the girl who had beaten with a Ise with a bokutou.

The woman composed herself. Even if she didn't move she was startled by the spear. Either by its appearance or by its energy. I don't know which.

"Are you stupid, Human?" The guy tried to sound confident, but I could see two things in his eyes. First, he was rattled. Second, there was greed there.

I ignored him and turned back to Grayfia-san. "Is the terms acceptable?"

She in turn looked at Riser who was battling with something in his mind. I don't know how, but he is controlling these girls to do his bidding. I could believe if there were two, three, even four of them that genuinelly liked him and his chauvinistic ways, but fourteen of them? At the ages they appeared to have? No way.

He lifted his eyes at me and I made sure my eyes didn't betray what I was thinking. "Yes. It's acceptable." He then turned his back and got out of the room. All his girls looked once at me with something between disdain and fear.

After they were all out of the door, the woman turned back to Rias. "Well, Rias-sama. I'll be on my way to prepare for the Rating Game."

"Okay. Thank you, Grayfia." The woman only nodded and disappeared in flash of red light.

After she disappeared everyone seemed to relax. I turned to Rias, face hard. "What the hell were you thinking?" I shouted at the redhead. The others that had just relaxed, tensed again.

"What were YOU thinking?!" She shot back. "Why did you bet that weapon?"

"I can make hundreds of those." I answered offhand and her eyes widened. She was about to sit down, but I didn't let her. "Now answer me! What the hell were you thinking betting the rest of your life in a game about war that you have no experience in?"

She flushed and mumbled something that I didn't hear.

"What?"

"That fried chicken was making fun of Buchou." Ise answered, coming to the girl's defense while I was looming over her.

I looked at him, questioning, then back at the girl. "Are you telling me you let him goad you into it?"

She nodded meekly.

"I don't believe this." I huffed, then took a deep breath to steady my pulse. It was done. It wouldn't do to continue berating my partner. Is that how Rin felt during the Grail War every time I did something stupid? "When is the Rating Game?"

"Ten days from now." Himejima answered.

I nodded. "Okay, I have ten days to beat you lot into a well oiled fighting machine. Let's get to it." I clapped my hands and Rias looked at be disbelievingly.

"What?! No. I'll not let you mess with my Peerage." She said rising again against me.

"If you want to win this game, you'll need to train. Your little stunts around the city while chasing Strays will not cut it." I said with conviction. "A Rating Game is a game about battle is it not?" I asked.

"Well... Yes..." She said, uncertainty creeping back on her voice.

"Then who of you have participated in a real battle before? Not little skirmishes, but real battle?" I asked around the room. "None, right? Then we have ten days to beat it into you strategies and formations while upgrading your own powers."

There was a stunned silence in the room. No one dared defy the authority I put on those words.

"Do you have some place out of the way, preferably on the countryside or a mountain, where we can use as training grounds?"

The girl nodded again, wide eyed at me. What was on those eyes? Fear? Awe? I couldn't tell at the moment.

"Then all of you. Go home gather your things and come back here in a hour at most. We'll be going." I said with finality. When I got to the door I turned to the Sister. "Sorry about that, Asia. I couldn't put any other way for that bastard."

The blonde shook her head vigorously. "No. It's okay, Onii-chan."

"I'm going gather my things and buy some others. Want to come with me? Your things are at the house after all." She nodded after a moment.

I looked at the others. They were still stunned silent. I clapped my hands two more times. "Come on, people. Move it, move it, move it."

When they started to scramble, I left the room with Asia. I had a battle to plan for. I narrowed my eyes and grinned viciously despite myself.

I finally was on familiar grounds.

* * *

"Why don't you just resign, Rias?" The voice that came from the TV was unmistakably Riser's, although the image was showing the two Peerages in a face off before the beginning of the Rating Game.

"Why don't you?" Rias voice was more confident than he must have expected. The girl had come a long way during this ten days. "This talk bores me. We'll see each other again at the end, Riser." She turned her back to him and started to walk back to her starting position, the rest of her Peerage took a look at the others than turned back too.

"Gutsy of her to dismiss a Phenex so calmly, don't you think, Jiahu-san?" The commentator of the TV cut whatever Riser had said in return for Rias' dismissal.

"Gutsy or foolish. We'll see during the game." The other commentator responded. I still couldn't believe that they really had pundits on these things. Worse, they had all that for what should be a Rating Game between two Clans resolving an internal matter.

"This will be the debut of Rias Gremory in a Rating Game. Her family is widely known for creating strong Peerages, but hasn't ever won a title on the international stage. Let's see how the Heir of the Gremory Clan fares against Riser Phenex. Riser, aside from a single loss in the final of the Devil's Youth Gathering the year he participated, hasn't lost a single match in his age bracket. All his matches have been won by either overwhelming force or by resignation. Not one of the new Devils is able to get over his overwhelming defense and when they can, his immortal regeneration keeps making him come back, forcing his enemies to resign when they can't survive against his superior use and control of Fire." The other commentator continued to drone it.

I was sitting on one of the rooms inside Kuoh Academy that had been converted to receive the dignataries of both Clans and their escorts, guests and other miscelaneous people. Correction, Devils. There wasn't a single human here aside from me. Even my guest, Marlianna-san, was a Youkai, so she didn't count.

After some debate over the question of if I could watch of not, it was decided in my favor, since I had a wager with one of the two combatants.

At the beggining of the ten days, when I watched my first match of a Rating Game between two supposedly big shots in the Game I had to laugh. These were Devils, and whatever attacks they were using, however powerful, didn't have intent to kill. They treated the Rating Game as exactly that. A game. It was supposedly used to train Devils for war, but all the matches I watched were treated like a life sized chess match from every single one of the people participating. When I reviewed Riser's last match, I laughed so hard, that Asia got worried about me.

Then she got scared by the fierceness in my eyes.

It took some doing but I managed to whip all of the kids into shape enough to make them a force to be reckoned with. Even Asia, I learned later, when was revived as Bishop, had her mana pool increased, and now had real application for her abilities in a battlefield without being relegated just to being a healer.

When the Game was about to begin, Shitori sat beside me, on the other side of Marlianna-san. The Nekomata had come as soon as I called her using the altar on the Master Bedroom at the house. At first she was all smiles and conversing with me and Asia easily, but when I told her about the situation she agreed to help me. I don't know what she did to Koneko, but the white haired catgirl had become more focused and more vicious as the days progressed.

Shitori, on the other hand, wasn't aware of any of this. "Why did you placed a wager yourself on this match, Emiya-san?" She asked me. "Rias has no chance of winning." On the screen, the opening moves. Riser Knigths and Bishops abandoned their positions and were moving across the courtyard that was a copy of the school building that had been created as a stage for the Rating Game. Each of these was accompanied by two pawns, while the two rooks moved to denfesive positions. "He even has his own sister as Bishop just for this game."

I narrowed my eyes at that. If what I suspect is true, then doing that to his own sister was beyond what I could expect from a Devil. It entered the realm of Demons. "I don't see why she wouldn't win."

Kiba and Koneko moved together. They were both the fastest people on Rias' Peerage. Not a minute after they took off, they ran into one of the Knights that was being accompanied by the two pawns that wore maid outfits.

"Oh, seems like we'll have our first skirmish of this match much faster than anticipated." The commentator said. "Let's see what the Knight Kiba Yuuto and the Rook Toujou Koneko can do against the Knight Siris and the pawns Marion and Bürent."

Nothing much, I thought ruefully. First rule on the battlefield, eliminate the immediate threats. At this point, the biggest threat Rias' Peerage has are the numbers. Riser simply has more pieces than her. They need to correct that.

"What's this? They are attacking the Pawns, leaving the Knight open to counter attack?" The commentator asked increduously.

On the screen, Kiba feinted with a sword on each of his hands, escaping from a blast of demonic power coming from one of the pawns, while Koneko jumped over the other one and was delivering a beating of a lifetime while perched on her shoulders. The Knight tried to take one step to attack Kiba, but Rias' Knight threw one of his swords in her direction, before whirling around with the other sword and cutting the other pawn with one of his Demonic Swords. It wasn't enough to finish her off, and the Knight that had been off balance before by the sword thrown her way was moving in to intercept him. Koneko finished beating the other pawn and used her disapearing body as a platform to jump in the direction of the other pawn and landed a double kick to her face, while Kiba recreated two other swords and parried the Knights attack. Koneko gave a few more punches on the face of the pawn and her too disappeared.

"Riser Phenex's Pawn Retired." The announcer's voice called.

Without any signal between the two, Koneko pulled a ball from a pouch on her back and threw on the ground between the two that were locked in combat. The Knight immediately sensed the object being thrown and jumped back. Kiba too jumped back and a smokescreen took over the screen.

"Riser Phenex's Pawn Retired." Again the announcement.

"A smoke screen? That's unusual tactics to use, isn't it?" The commentator chimed.

"Interesting but since it's not a magical smoke, the Knight Siris can create a really powerful gust of magical wind and blow away the smoke, but by doing that she would leave herself open to an attack from either the Rook or the Knight."

They didn't seem to notice, since the camera wasn't prepared for that, that both the Knight and the Rook had already fled the scene. The Phenex Knight on the other hand was backing away from the smoke screen and was the only thing visible by the angle of the camera.

"Show yourselves, cowards." The girl called angryly. When no answer came, she repeated. "Come on, fight me!"

"Oh, it appears that both of Rias' pieces had fled the scene." Again the commentator chimed.

"They didn't have hope to match Phenex Knight alone, even with both of them, so they fled the scene. Sound tactic." The other answered.

The screen changed to the chainsaw twins walking cautiously inside the forest trailed by the girl wearing a yukata. This girl struck me as the same as Asia in some ways, with the same kind eyes. "It appears that we're about to have another battle here. The two Pawns and the Bishop are walking directly to the position where Rias Bishop and Pawn are positioned."

"Let's see how they fare against Mihae, said to be one the best Bishops of her generation and the two Pawns whose combination attacks are well known during the Rating Games." The commentator continued.

"Rias' Bishop is positioned in front of the Pawn. That's an unusual formation, don't you think, Jiahu-san?"

"Yes. Unusual that they are together alone too. They are two newly Reincarnated Devils, with barely two weeks of life in the Bishop's case. The Pawn though is the holder of the Boosted Gear, so maybe there's something there."

The image changed from the pair to the trio again. The twins were revving the chainsaws they carried, and apparently were saying something to Asia, but there were no mics near enough to capture the conversation.

Out of nowhere another announcement came. "Riser Phenex's Pawn Retired. Riser Phenex's Pawn Retired."

"Oh, what's this?" The image of Asia and the girls was put on a caption in the corner to show another smoke screen. "Let's see the instant replay." The image turned to Kiba and Koneko jumping down from a set of trees, Kiba skewering one of the Pawns that appeared to be cosplaying as a dancer straight out of the Arabian Nights, while Koneko landed feet first on the chest of the girl who had beaten Ise with a bokutou on the clubroom, then she jumped from that position, put both her legs on each side of her head, using her strenght as Rook to lock her legs around the Pawns neck and using her hips to twist her head in a unnatural position and while angling her body forward, to the floor and using the momentum to throw the pawn against a tree. When the Knight that was accompanying them noticed that the enemies had appeared, she had to deflect two of Kiba's thrown swords before Koneko threw another smoke bomb on the ground.

"Hit and run tactis?" The commentator asked after the image came back to live. The whole encounter took maybe ten seconds overall.

"You were the one who taught them that weren't you?" Shitori asked at my side. She was gaping at the screen. "Why?"

"Aside from the fact that I want to win, as well?" I asked the girl, and she nodded. "Well, the reason to this are twofold, actually. Pawns are the most dangerous pieces on this battle." I refuse to call it a game. "Their promotion hability is dangerous. The last thing you want in a battlefield is to have an enemy that can get stronger just because they are positioned in a certain place." Caster with all her energy accumulated on Ryuudou Temple came to mind. "So it makes sense to defeat them as fast as possible while they are relatively weak."

"And the other reason?"

"Riser has too many moving pieces. Rias does not. At least this way things can get more even. And as soon as there are no more Pawns on the field, then she too can move to attack, because there's no real need to protect the territory, just the King."

The girl frowned at me. Kings weren't supposed to take the field, except to take on the enemy King. It wasn't an actual rule of the Rating Game, though. On the screen the image came back to Ise and Asia. They were in the exact same position, but the battlefield around them was ragged. "It appears that the other combat is going fast and strong here." The commentator said.

At some point during the fight, Asia had cast one of the spells that I browbeat Himejima in teaching to her. A holy shield made entirely out of energy. Her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing, wasn't Holy, at least not by the standards of this universe. I gamed on the possibility that the Shrine Maiden would have protective spells on her arsenal, and was surprised when she appeared to know several. This one was a simple spell that didn't protect agaisnt physical attacks, but kept out all energies not already inside out of the boundary field once created. It used Asia's own magical energy to be created so, as it was with her Sacred Gear, it wasn't actually Holy, so it could be used in the Rating Game. What surprised me was that the spell worked better for Asia than it worked for Himejima.

In the situation they were in right now, Asia had to use a lot of her energy to create such a field, but that was where Ise's Sacred Gear came in. He explained that the Boosted Gear could double his power every ten seconds, then double again and again after the intervals. What sinched this combination was the second effect of the Boosted Gear that he managed to unlock during training.

He could transfer those boosts to another target. In this case, Asia. The powerfull field she was creating wasn't using all that much energy from her with four boosts from Ise. And every time the twins tried to get close enough to attack them, Asia let another of the spells she learned from Himejima loose. A simple pushing force became a real punch when cast after been boosted to four or five times. The other Bishop's attacks couldn't reach them simply because the field disrupted the energies of her spells.

"It's an stalling tactic." The commentator voice came again. "They don't have any way to deal with the three that are attacking them."

"Yes, but stalling for-" The commentator's voice was cut off when a lightning strike so big that took over the entire screen shot down from the sky and obliterated the side of the battlefield where the three of Phenex Pieces were.

"Riser Phenex's Pawn Retires. Riser Phenex's Pawn Retires. Riser Phenex's Bishop Retires."

"It was a trap." Shitori said beside me. "They were stalling so Akeno-san could gather enough mana to cast one of her most powerful spells." I just grinned.

"It seems that Rias' Queen has taken the stage." The commentator said after the three pieces retired. The camera paned up to the dark sky where Himejima was already flying in another direction. Ise turned tail and ran in the direction of the courtyard and Asia began to run in the same direction Himejima was flying.

"Yes. It was a well laid trap. Put two of the most seemingly weak pieces of the Peerage together and make them stall for time as the Queen gathered her energy to cast her spell." The other commentator said. "So far the battle is being lopsided to the side of Rias Peerage."

In the screen, the image began to follow the Nekomata twins and the other bishop, Ravel Phenex. That one would be a problem to take on. A Phenex can shrugh off almost any attack if they concentrate in their regenerative abilities, and the girl, Ravel, was an unknown. We had no data on her. The three happened on a clearing and stopped. Again, they said something that wasn't picked up by the mics. I could feel Marlianna-san stir beside me, no doubt recognizing her daughters, but maintained herself silent.

The camera then changed to the other side of the clearing where Koneko and Kiba were standing. Without any visible sign between the two, they darted in the direction of the trio. Kiba ran low on the ground, then dodged to the side when one of the twins tried to punch him, twisting around his body in a corkscrew movement, and then completely ignored the catgirl, going for Ravel. The catgirl that was trying to go after Koneko met her match when the white haired girl dodged her punch, grabbed the arm that punched her and using a move reminiscent of a judo grapple threw the girl at her sister before she could go after Kiba.

After that, she moved fast and low to the ground, and hit with her shoulder the other Nekomata she just threw, making the girl fly through the air and hit her back against a tree. Before the other was even halfway there, though, she locked both legs around the the neck of the catgirl that was still on the ground, cartwheeling once and beating the other on the ground, then without stopping the momentum she carthweeled again and threw her with her legs directly at another tree.

"Riser Phenex's Pawn Retires. Riser Phenex's Pawn Retires." Both Nekomatas were down for the count, and Marlianna-san let out a breath. I didn't know if it was relived, pained or some other emotion.

In the meantime Ravel was hardpressed to maintain herself against Kiba's superior speed. He was a Knight for her Bishop, so even if she had superior magical firepower, it was all for nothing if she couldn't hit him with. And for Kiba's fortune, she didn't appear to know any area of effect spell. Koneko took one look at Kiba and abandoned the area, leaving the two. Kiba was scoring several hits on the girl, but all the damage was regenerating faster than he could make them. The girl whirled around and fired her spells in random directions, trying to get lucky.

"It seems that both pieces are Checking each other at this point." The commentator said. "Even if Rias' Knight can damage Riser's Bishop, the wounds heal themselves, while the Bishop can't seem to score any clean hits on the Knight. If this continues, it will be a battle of stamina."

"I agree completely. If no one else interferes with this battle, they should just Check each other until the end of the game." His colleague chimed.

"Let's see where there are more action happening then, shall we?" The first continued. The camera changed again, leaving the fight between Kiba and Ravel in a small box in the corner.

"How did you manage to pull something like this off from them?" The bespectacled girl asked me without moving her eyes from the TV.

I smirked at her. "I beat them in a Rating Game in the first day of training, alone."

The girl started at that and turned to me. "What?!"

I was about to answer her when the camera turned to Ise, and he was apparently going against the two Rooks and a Knight alone. It was basically suicide.

It was also what I beat into him. He's weak. He has to use his weakness to his advantage. It was the whole principle of my sword style. While ducking and jumping away from the spells and sword strikes, he was getting closer and closer to Riser's territory. The three were so focused on not letting Ise get close to the territory that they didn't even noticed when he touched them during his dodges. I had to hand it to the kid. Even if he only managed to create that spell because of his perversity, he managed to create something that could actually be used to his advantage.

I also beat into him during training that he never should make even a mention of using that spell on either Rias or Asia.

So, after dodging the attacks for what felt like a minute, one of the Rooks finally managed to land a clean hit on him, sending him sprawling on the floor. At least it appeared to be a clean hit, but I noticed that he jumped with the strike, diminishing the damage somewhat. He would still be sore in the morning, but the attack hadn't done as much damage as it seemed to his opponents. But he was still acting as if his life was on the line.

"Well, there was no way for a Pawn to survive the onslaught of three higher pieces by himself." The pundit said. "He'll probably retire in the next minute or so."

"I don't know." The other said. "The boy may be plotting something. He still goading the pieces to attack him."

The Knight apparently fed up with him moved to slash, but at that moment, Ise snapped his fingers. Immediatelly the clothes of the three girls were shredded to pieces, leaving them on their birthday suites. Apparently in order to preserve their modesty, the camera panned out and became overhead, just in time to catch a streak of black energy falling down on the group. Ise jumped back at the unspoken signal and a explosion took over the courtyard.

"Riser Phenex's Rook Retires. Riser Phenex's Rook Retires. Riser Phenex' Knight retires."

"That is highly irregular." The commentator voice again. "Rias appears to have taken the field herself while her pieces are still fighting."

"Yes. Maybe it's the inexperience finally appearing." The other agreed. "With the battle going so overwhelmingly on her favor, maybe she thought she could attack as well."

Either these guys were idiots, faking it, or were still thinking about this as a Game. I beat into Rias' Peerage on the first day. Don't look at this as a Rating Game. It's a battle. A life and death battle. Keeping your strongest weapon for the end is only a valid when there a limit for the ammount of times you can use it. If you are not limited by it, then it's only a matter of choosing the right time to use it. There was no rule against it, after all. Rias landed beside Ise, and they went in the direction of the athletic field.

The image cut to exactly there, where Akeno was raining lightning on the first Knight, while Asia kept using her shield against the spells raining on her as well from Riser's Queen. Yubelluna was known as the Bomb Queen for the amount of bombardment spells she could use, and Asia, without Ise to boost her, was being hard pressed to maintain herself in one piece. I gritted my teeth at the image. She was using an inordinate ammount of mana just to keep herself upright with each attack her field received. Yubelluna was smart and was testing what spells would be more effective against the former Sister. From fire, to water, lightning and ice. She tried all of them in quick sucession but not one of them was more effective than the other. Better to say that all spells were effective in that Asia simply couldn't keep up with them.

Then Yubelluna caught a break. One of the explosions she created kicked debris into the field Asia was projecting and hit her on the head. The girl was unbalanced for a moment and was about to fall. Her field disappeared. At that moment several things happened at the same time. Rias and Ise appeared on the screen from one side, and Koneko from the forest's direction. They all got to see the moment one of the spells that made Riser's Queen receive her adage connected. An explosion that rocked the air and the camera happened directly where Asia was.

"Rias Gremory's Bishop retires." The announcer voice came.

My own nails dug into my hand, so hard I was making the fist. On the screen, Koneko appeared behind the Knight out of nowhere and tripped her, then Ise came from the other side and punched at her. The woman didn't fall on the ground, but Koneko was already on her, punching, kicking and dodging her sword, when a ray of energy flew from Ise's Sacred Gear directly to Himejima that was a few feet on the air. It was all the signal Koneko needed to disengage the Knight and lightining as powerful as the one Himejima had used earlier fell on the Knight.

"Riser Phenex's Knight retires."

The announcement didn't even register on the four. Rias was already gathering her energy, the Boosted Gear on Ise's arm was already blinking in rhythm with the ammount of boosts he had stored, Koneko had sprouted her own wings and was posing to go directly at Yubelluna who was still floating near them. Himejima, still boosted by Ise, whirled and rained down lightning bolts on the woman. The Bomb Queen was trying to dodge the attacks from the sky that she didn't noticed when Koneko got to her from behind and latched on her back, punching her hard on the back of the head.

At this point all this was registering in the more analytical part of my brain, while my heart was with the Sister that had just been defeated. I wanted to go to her right now, but I couldn't get to the infirmary while the Rating Game was still ongoing. I continued to grit my teeth so hard that they were cringing.

On the screen Koneko jumped out of Yubelluna's back when she maneuvered her so the woman had given Rias her back. Big mistake. Rias' Power of Destruction, boosted by Ise, nailed her in the back so hard that the woman would have been thrown all the way to the boundary of the stage if the teleportation hadn't kicked in.

"Riser Phenex's Queen retires."

Himejima landed beside them, and the four walked in the direction of the school. Their faces were set. Once there, they walked unopposed until they were on the rooftop, face to face with Riser.

"Even if they win against Riser's Peerage, they have no way to battling against Riser himself, Emiya-san." Shitori again chimed her opinion.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? And why do you think that?"

"He's immortal." She said as if that answered everything. When she noticed that I was nonplussed by that, she continued, in a tone of a teacher explaining why two plus two was four to a kid in elementary school. "Even if Rias manages to do any damage on him, he'll just regenerate the damage. Not even her Power of Destruction will be enough to beat him."

"Is that so?" I answered in a half-mocking tone while smirking at the girl.

"Yes. It is so!" She almost shouted inside the room.

I only grinned at her after that with a 'I know something you don't' face.

Ise's declaration cut through our discussion. "Promotion: Queen." And launched himself at the pretender.

Riser took the attack without even moving. The trail of blood that appeared on his head disappeared immediately in burst of flames. Ise hot headed attack happened so fast that neither side had even time to move. It worked in Riser advantage though, since it showed his power.

"Rias, my dear. You fought bravely to this point, but this is the end. You have no hope of defeating me." The guy said, then punched Ise back the others. He apparently wanted to make a show of how unstoppable he was in front of the cameras.

Well, Rias had just the thing to cut him down a peg. Or a leg.

"Riser Phenex's Bishop retires."

The announcement cut through them all.

"Boost." The intonation form the Boosted Gear came after.

"Hoh, it appears that you are alone, now, Riser. Why don't you resign?"

"Boost."

"Oh, my dear. Even if my worthless Peerage is defeated, you can't hope to defeat me."

"Shut up, Fried Chicken."

"Boost."

"You shut it, you lowly beast. You don't even deserve to be on the same stage as myself."

"You're the one who don't deserve Buchou!"

"Boost."

"Do you really think you can win when all your pieces were defeated so easily?" Her tone of voice was sweet, almost sultry.

"You are the one who doesn't know what it means to fight in the big leagues, whore!" He shot back.

"Boost."

"Oh, but I know. I know all about battles." Her energy started to gather around herself.

At this moment Kiba landed beside her, bowed and went to his position, one step to the left and three at front of Rias. Ise seemed to realize the movement and change his position to be exactly opposite of Kiba, still in front of Rias.

"Boost."

"I may not have the experience on them yet, but we learned it all from someone who went to countless battefields, who fought heroes and villains, who fought demons and human nature."

"Boost."

"And we also learned that the Rating Game is anything but a Game. It's a battle." Both Himejima and Koneko moved to mirror the position both Kiba and Ise were, just in their case, behind Rias. "And in battle we have to use everything we've got if we want to survive."

"Boost."

"I'm immortal, you dumb bitch." Riser said angryly. "What part of 'I can't be killed' you didn't understand."

"Oh, really." Rias tone was as condescending as was goading.

"Boost." The four of them started circling around Rias while she continued talking.

"You know, I read the story about the Phoenix." She said after a moment in a completely different tone, as if she was talking about the color of her nail polish, and threw Riser for a loop.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Boost."

"It's simple really. You are a descendant of the original Phoenix, right?" The girl asked.

"Of course. I'm the proud Third Heir of the Phenex Clan." He then leered. "A Clan where you'll become the mistress of as soon as you finish this foolishness."

"Boost."

"But where is it now?" She asked, faking confusion.

"What?!"

"Where's the original Phoenix? Wasn't it immortal?" She asked again.

"Boost."

Riser looked at her dumbly.

Rias had a feral smile on her face. "I'll show you why the original Phoenix isn't around anymore."

"TRANSFEEEER!" Ise's cry was the signal for Rias' Peerage and for me. When we tried this during training it took a lot out me, even with her doing all the heavy lifting.

The Pawn's cry made Riser whirl his head in his direction, so he probably didn't hear when Rias intoned. "Trace on."

It was a strange feeling, knowing that someone else could use my Aria. Archer didn't count, we're basically the same person. The moment she declared, I knew it was working because I felt the tug at our link.

In the screen, both Kiba and Ise stepped closer to her, while Koneko and Himejima moved to be in front of Kiba and cover Riser's vision of her. On Rias hands the outline of a sword started to appear.

"The Phoenix..." Rias started to say but her voice was strained with all the power she was using. My part on this was just concentrate on every aspect of the weapon. She needed to project it, using the blueprint I created for her. It was hard because most of what I do is instinctive, so things like the lenght, composition, replication of the spells used in its creation, among other things were things hard to transmit through our link. In the end she had to spend a whole lot more time than me forming the same sword. "...was killed. During a battle with a greek warrior whose name was lost to history."

The sword formed itself on her hands. A golden handguard, covered by a series of runes and an simple steel blade with two edges. It was a completely unremarkable blade, except for what it could do.

"During the battle, a task he received from Athena, to hunt the Phoenix, he used this sword." She took a step forward, nodding in gratitude to Kiba. It was all theatrics, obviously. Since Kiba was known to be the Wielder of the Sword Birth Sacred Gear, they acted as if Kiba was the one who created the blade, and not her. This would create rumors about him later, but for now it was enough.

She continued going forward, before stopping in front of him. "And what does this toy means to me?" The man sneered.

Rias sighed dramatically. "If with all this explanation you still don't get it, then I fear for the future of the Phenex Clan."

Riser apparently had enough and lunged at Rias.

It happened in a flash, Riser lifted his arm to attack Rias who was already slashing before he even moved. His arm never reached her. "Tell me, Riser. Why hasn't your arm regenerated yet?" Even if she hadn't slashed him, there's no way he could reach her, boosted twelve times as she was.

"What?" A thump beside him was the only warning that he had to look down to his own severed arm. "Wha- What is this? What did you do, witch?"

"Just a lesson in objectivity, my dear Riser." Rias said, while flicking the blood off the sword. "Nothing in the world is immortal. You just need to find the right way to kill it." Then she poised the sword below his chin and smiled sweetly at him. "You should have paid more attention to what Elders of the Phenex Clan must have tried to teach you." The smile faded completely. "Goodbye, Riser."

The moment she pulled her arms back to slash at his neck, his eyes widened, fear clearly showing in them, and he shouted. "I resign!"

Rias' momentum didn't let her stop just because her target disappeared. She lost her footing and ended up falling down, losing the sword in the process. She laid down there for a second, trying to process what just happened when the announcer's voice confirmed.

"Match over. Total time: Twenty two minutes and fifteen seconds. Winner by Resignation: Rias Gremory."

* * *

After the match was over I immediately bolted out the door, going down to the infirmary. I almost collided with a redhead that had introduced himself before but I honestly don't remember him at all. My mind was just on the former Sister. She was the only one who was defeated, out of all the pieces in Rias' Peerage, so she must have been feeling down, since she wasn't there to help heal her team mates.

So, when I stepped inside the infirmary, expecting to find a depressed girl sitting or sleeping on one of the beds, I could be forgiven for the decidedly unmanly yelp when an Asia-shaped bullet rammed me in the chest with a cry of "Oniiiiiii-chan!"

It took the wind out of me and my sails in one fell swoop. The blonde that was hugging me wasn't depressed in the slightest. She was beaming at me with all the joy I came to expect from her when she find something new and interesting on the street.

"We won, Onii-chan! We won! We Won!" The girl was bouncing while still hugging me. And since I still hadn't recovered my breath or my footing, I ended up falling on the ground while bringing the Sister down with me.

"A-ah, right." I patted her head while in that position. I don't think she even realized that we were on the ground at the moment, me sitting and she drapped around my chest. "Congratulations."

She beamed up at me. "Thank you, Onii-chan. It was all because of you."

I looked up and saw that the nurses were all looking amused at our antics and looked down at her again. "Can we go back now, or do you still need to be here?"

"No, I'm okay. When I saw that spell, I knew I wouldn't be able to survive anyway, so I resigned before it hit me." The girl admitted shamelessly. Well, I did teach them that there was no shame in running away when you were overwhelmed, but I didn't think it would translate in her using the resignation teleport to escape. When I said that, I was thinking more in case of a battle, not the way she interpreted.

"Then why are you here?" That part didn't make sense. If she wasn't hurt, then she should be on the game lobby, not here.

"Ah, I was helping the other nurses." She finally undraped her hands from around me to show me her hands with both rings of Twilight Healing.

"I see." I smiled at the blonde. I got up, and pulled her hand to help her get up herself. "I need to get back to the guestroom. Are you going to stay here, or you'll come with me?"

"I'll stay here a few more minutes, until the others come for me." She smiled at me. "I'll see you later, Onii-chan."

"Okay, see you later, Asia." I answered the former Sister and turned back to the door.

I closed the door behind me and shook my head. The girl was way too hyper for someone who essentially just died. To my surprise, Shitori was waiting for me outside the door. She was looking at me with awe in her eyes. "How is she?"

"She's okay. In the end she never got hit by that spell." I smiled ruefully. "The girl resigned before the spell hit." I answered and started walking down the hall to go back to the guest room.

The bespectacled girl walked into step beside me. "And you think that's okay?"

"What would happen if she didn't resign in that moment?" I asked her in return.

"Well, she would be hit by the spell, and probably retire anyway." She said after a moment. "But at least she would retire with honor in battle."

"Honor in battle, huh?" I parroted. "Where was the honor on today's battle?"

That threw the girl for a loop. "Well, it was a Rating Game between two families of the Seventy Two Pillars of the Underworld. Just the privilege of competing in such an event is honorable."

"Is that what you saw?" I asked in return. "Just a Rating Game?"

"Well," She thought for a second, then continued. "Yes."

I shook my head when we finally made it back to the guest room. "Then we must have been watching different events, Shitori."

"What, why?" I entered the room with her behind me. The room was silent, except for the TV where the pundits where still commenting on the game.

"Because what I saw was a bully trying to beat someone he thought as weaker than him into submission, but the bullied fought back and proved himself stronger than the bully." I turned to her. "Or do you really think that to bet a marriage in game of combat is honourable?"

She frowned. "No, but-"

"She accepted the Game, bla-bla-bla." I finished. "If you say that is a normal action for one of the Seventy Two Pillars, then no wonder you ended up in Civil War all those years ago."

"The young man is right, Sitri." A voice behind me that I didn't recognize concurred with me. "The way in which my son conducted himself during this matter was unbeffiting for a Phenex, and now he lost the only chance he had with the woman he truly loves because he burned all the other bridges with her."

I looked at the man who had the same light shade of red collored hair as Riser. "I'm sorry, sir. I believe we were not introduced. Emiya Shirou." I bowed to him. "But not for a moment I could see anything in Riser that could equate to the feeling you are describing. He treats his own Peerage as things that can be thrown away, and in the time I was inside the same room as him he came across as chauvinistic and egomaniac."

"I'm Lord Phenex, Riser's father, young man. I don't think you can make any judgements on the character of my son with such an small sample." He answered.

"With all do respect sir, we can only make judgements from what we see in front of our eyes, not from hearsay, and so far he has not done anything to disprove this to me."

"I see. What you speak is the true, Emiya-san." He stroked his chin, pensively. "But even then, you can't expect me to not come in his defense when he's been difamed without any proof or witnesses, don't you agree?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but if you yourself watched the match and heard his words spoken at the beggining and at the end, they should make quite clear of his character. And if a witness is what you want, you can ask Lucifuge-san since she was present for the entirety of the time I spent in the presence of your son."

"Grayfia, huh?" He nodded. "Very well, I'll heed your words for now. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you are the young man that had a wager with my son, correct?"

"Yes, you are correct, sir."

"May I ask why did you want such specific terms?"

"I wouldn't like to say anything before the results are shown, sir. I may be wrong with my assumptions."

He knit his brows minutely at me, then relented. "Very well. When do you pretend to exercise your right for it."

"Immediatelly, if possible. Since you are here, and Lord Gremory is also present, I don't see a better time for it."

"Very well. I'll gather the members of my son's Peerage. We have the daggers prepared as well." He was about to turn.

"I'll be using my own dagger, thank you, otherwise it would be useless and risky."

He didn't say anything, and just nodded. Fifteen minutes later we were all in the game lobby, with the exception of Riser who was still being treated. Reataching an arm that was cut off isn't easy. A Phenex would never really have a problem with that, but he was cut with that blade, so I can only cringe at the pain he must be going through.

Actually scratch that, if I hear his cries of pain I'm liable to start laughing so its better that he's on the other side of the complex. Rias and the rest reunited with us a few minutes after Lord Phenex left to gather the Peerage. They were all tired, but still exhilarated from their recent victory on their Rating Game debut.

I'll have to beat them down again later. No one should feel so happy after having basically just murdered several of their equals.

"Well, we're all here, Emiya-san." Lord Phenex announced. "I believe that you said you would use a dagger of your own choosing?"

"Yes, I will." I nodded at the man. I had traced Rule Breaker earlier and put on a black box and sealed it. Then drafted Marlianna-san to help me with the theatrics of it. Devils like pompous affairs, I noticed.

I stepped in front of Yubelluna first. "Please come with me." I would leave the ones that I thought that were being controlled to last.

"Where are we going?" The woman asked.

"Somewhere more private. There are too many prying eyes in this room. Lord Phenex, Lord Gremory, Marlianna-san, if you could accompany us."

We went to a room down the corridor. The room had two other exits, into other waiting rooms. I had Shitori prepare them without telling her why. Inside the room was a case with sixteen spaces, with a cloth covering it.

"Your arm, please. Extend it and leave it like that." Then turned to the side, opened the case and revealed the Noble Phantasm. Just looking at it gave me a retch reflex, but I held it in. No one would know what this would do.

To be honest, I don't even know if this work or not. I held the knife in both hands, and recited some nonsensical gibberish that I doubt the Devils would understand, even with their instincts, then sunk the tip on Yubelluna's pulse.

The effect was immediate. I felt my Od being drained while the room as whole started to fill with this world's version of the demonic energy, centered around the woman's chest. A few seconds later and the Queen Evil Piece feel out of her chest and I grabbed it. The woman fell backwards for a moment, before Lord Phenex caught her and kept her from falling completely.

"What did you do?" The woman asked with an anger tinged voice.

"Gave you another chance." I said, nonplussed by the situation. I knew Yubelluna was loyal to Riser herself.

"Another chance for what?"

I raised her Queen piece. "To decide. Do you want to continue in Riser Peerage or prefer that Lord Gremory, Lord Phenex or myself to find you another King?"

"Give my Piece back. Give it back." I ignored her and put the piece in the case.

"They'll be returned after the ceremony is over." I answered her. Calling what I was doing a ceremony was pushing it. They may even think that I was subverting the Evil Pieces system in some way. Good thing I asked Lord Gremory to check the room before hand. "Please, exit through that door and wait for you to be called again."

She looked at the Lord Phenex for a moment, before going to the room.

"Marlianna-san, please call the next one." I turned to the Nekomata.

On and on it went. First the two Knights, then the first Rook, then two of the Pawns. Not a single of the girls I had called so far had gone to the other room. All of them were directed to the same room as before, until it came the first Bishop, Ravel Phenex.

"Father, must I go through this?" She asked Lord Phenex.

"Unfortunately, yes, my daughter. The benefits of the wager were too great for Riser to ignore, and now that he lost we must keep our end of it. Don't worry, I have been watching Emiya during the ceremony he performed so far and aside from some little faint spells, there's nothing dangerous with it."

"Raise you arm please." Again I muttered nonsensical words and stabbed the girl in the arm. The explosion of energy and the piece fell. Ravel herself didn't.

"That's it?" She asked.

I looked at the piece and smiled. "Yes. That's it. Now, can I ask you a weird question, Ravel-chan?"

"If I can choose not to answer." She said, huffing.

"Of course, of course." I lifted the piece to eye level and without looking at her, asked. "During the course of the Rating Game, did you at some point disagree with the strategy your brother deigned to use?"

The girl looked at me, then realized that I wasn't looking at her at all and instead at the piece and focused on it as well. "Yes?" She answered. "Why?"

"And did you voice that disagreement?"

She grimaced and looked confused for a second. "No. I didn't..." And trailed off, not understanding her own choice.

"Humm... I see. Ravel-chan, I would ask if you want to continue being part of your brother's Peerage, but I feel that you don't have the choice at the moment, so if you could enter that door and wait inside until we call for you again?"

She looked at her father, before entering the door opposite the one all the other girls entered.

"If I may ask, Emiya. Why send my daughter to that other room?" The patriarch of the Phenex Clan asked.

"I'll explain after I finish the ceremony. You'll understand everything, Lord Phenex." I answered the man. Before I had even turned to the Nekomata she was already going to bring the next girl. The second Bishop, Mihae.

The girl entered the room and positioned herself where Marlianna-san guided her to. "Your arm, please." I asked. The girl pulled the sleeve of her yukata and showed to me. I almost grimaced at the fresh marks of abuse on it, but didn't let it show in my face. I grabbed the knife and muttered again, but this time the girl giggled at me. I stopped and looked at her, confused.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Emiya-sama. What you chanted sounded like something you say for a child that hasn't learned yet to speak. Please, procceed."

I tilted my head to the side then shook my head. To maintain the illusion, I put the knife back on the case, before starting over again. She giggled again, despite herself, but this time I didn't stop. I stabbed her, and after a few moments the Evil Piece fell on my hand.

"How are you feeling?" The girl looked disoriented, different from the others so far. "Are you alright?"

"Huh, where... where am I?" The girl asked and my eyebrows shot up. "Who are you? No." She pressed both hands on her head. "You're... Emiya-sama..."

"Mihae, are you alright?"

"Lord Phenex. I'm sorry for such an unsightly behaviour." She tried to get up and bow to the man at the same time, which didn't work so well, and she tilted to the side.

"Mihae-san. I think its best if you sit first." I said to the girl, leading her to one of the chairs in the room.

"Yes. That would be best." She took a breath. "Thank you."

I waited for her to compose herself, but she kept staring up and down, sometimes her eyes glazing over. I waited until a moment that I thought it would be best to ask the question. "Mihae-san, do you want to continue to be part of-"

I was cut off by a scream of "NOOOO!" coming from the girl.

"Mihae-san? Mihae-san!" I tried again, but she was with both hands in her head repeating 'no, no, no' without stopping. I put a hand below her elbow and guided her to get up. She didn't protest the movement, but continued her mantra. I looked at Marlianna-san and gestured for her to take the girl to the room.

"What in the Maous name was that?" Lord Gremory asked.

"Emiya, are you sure that this ceremony you are performing is safe." Phenex asked.

No. I have no idea. I'm cutting the contract between Riser and the girls, but the memories they had during the contract are being kept intact. I looked at the man in the eyes and nodded. "Yes. It's safe." The ceremony itself is. What isn't safe is what the memories will do to the girls after it. Do Devils even have therapists?

"Then what in the world happened to Mihae?" He asked pointedly, gesturing to the door where the girl was just led to.

"I unlocked her memories." I answered, then lifted the Bishop to my eye level again, then grimaced and put it back in the case, separated from the others.

"What do you mean?"

"To be honest, the order of the girls that came so far were determined beforehand. These last few girls. The majority of them will have reaction that are at least somewhat similar to Mihae-san."

"What?! Why?"

"I'll explain everything at end. I promise you that. If I don't you can cut me up with that blade of yours." I said, pointing to the sheath he was carrying at his waist.

He looked at me again, and for a Devil, he was too honourable for his own good. In the end he relented. I was about to signal for the Nekomata to call the next girl, when I realized that she was already here. She must want this to go fast as well. After all, her daughters are going to be the last ones.

"You're... Xuelan, correct?" I asked.

The girl huffed. "Let's get this over with."

"Very well, please extend your arm." She did as well.

Stab. Explosion of energy. Collect the piece. Girl falls backwards. Lord Phenex keeps the girl upright. The same sequence of events.

That is, until the girl tried to punch me.

"Hey, wait. What was that for?" I asked.

"Huh?! What- who are you?!" The girl, wearing a cheongsam dress heavily modified to be as revealing as possible while still being somewhat decent, asked.

"I'm Emiya Shirou. We were introduced almost two weeks ago?" I asked. "And a few seconds ago again?"

"Two weeks ago?" She scrunched her eyebrows, thinking.

"Do you remember why are you here, at least?" I asked.

"Here?" Then she turned frightened. "Where's here? Where am I?"

"Do you remember him at least?" I pointed behind her.

"Oh, Lord Phenex." She knelt in front of him with her head down. "I'm sorry for my behaviour."

"It's alright, Xuelan. Can you please tell me where we are?" He asked, voice warm with a fatherly tone.

After thinking about it, the girl hang her head. "I'm sorry, Lord Phenex. I have no idea."

While they byplay was occuring I put her piece in the case as well. "Xuelan-san, I'm going to make you the same question I made the others. Do you want to continue in Riser Peerage or prefer that Lord Gremory, Lord Phenex or myself to find you another King?"

"What?" She looked confused. "Peerage? King?"

"Perhaps it would be better that we continue this after you collect yourself better." I suggested. "Please, go through that door and wait with the other girls there." I pointed to the door where Mihae and Ravel went through.

"Yes..." She stopped. "I... I think that it would be for the best."

I turned to the door, where Marlianna already had left from. I could almost feel the confusion coming from Lords Phenex and Gremory.

The next three were Pawns that I thought that weren't being controlled from the beggining. The girl who looked like she came out of Arabian Nights, Shuriya, and the girls dressed as maids, Bürent and Marion. I had pegged these three as loyal to Riser normally but ended up surprised when Marion showed the same symptoms of the other two. Disorientation and memory lapse. Her piece too was loaded into the case, separated from the others.

The last pawn before the Nekomata twins was Mira, and she too surprised me, when it turned out that she didn't react like the others. She didn't show any of the symptoms, so she went to the door with Yubelluna. By now the Queen must have already realized that not all of the Peerage was going inside the room. If any of them were aware of the manipulation they must be getting nervous.

The last two. Ni and Li, or Nirliana and Lirniana. Depends all on the results now. I turned to the woman and nodded to her. I swear that there was a skip in her step when she left out the door.

I turned back to Lord Phenex. "Now, these two, Ni and Li, are the real reason for us to be having this ceremony at all."

"What? The two Nekomatas? Why?" He asked me.

"I don't know if you are aware or not, but I have a Pact with Rias Gremory. The terms of the Pact were that I needed to fulfill a contract that she herself wasn't supposed to be able to. The contract in question was that of a mother that wanted to know what happened to her daughters and, if possible, bring them back to her." He nodded at the explanation so far. "I have reasons to believe that Ni and Li are the daughters in question, but they refuse to acnkowledge even the names which they were both born to."

"But if they denied being these girls, what makes you believe that they are who are you think they are?"

"Marlianna-san, my assistant tonight, is actually the mother in question. She's also a Nekomata, and contrary to what should happen in case of a Youkai being Reincarnated into a Devil, the link of the Nekomata Clan that Marlianna-san belongs to is still active for her daughters. She can literally feel her daughters, Lord Phenex. She came to Rias because it was a matter that involved Devils and Rias accepted the contract before knowing completely what it entailed. When she heard about the twins, she immediately refused to continue working the case and came to me as an outsider for me to work this contract for her. But for it to happen, we had to enter a Pact. I'm sure you can understand why she didn't want to continue to work in this contract?"

Lord Gremory nodded, but then grimaced. "But then she could simply have failed the contract and paid the fine. Why didn't she do that?"

"That's not my place to say, Lord Gremory. You'll have to ask Rias' for her reasons. In my case, I'm doing this for two reasons. First, I hate to see a mother suffer the way this one is. Second, I need the money, pure and simple."

At this point both catgirls entered the room, with Marlianna behind them. She dutifully guided them to the same position where they should be. I got the knife and looked at both of them. "Extend your arms, please."

When they did so, I stabbed both of them in quick succession. Then quickly put the blade on the case and closed. When I turned to them, both Pawns were floating out of their chests.

I smiled when I felt the pieces and analysed them like I did with all the others. Here's where the spells were hidden after all.

"Mada...? nyaa~" Nirliana said confused.

"Mada?" Lirniana questioned. When I looked at the older Nekomata she had abandoned her mask of tranquility and was shedding tears.

"Yes, my kitties?"

"Mada!" Both of them pounced on their mother with a simultaneous cry, rubbing their cheeks on the woman's neck.

I turned around leaving them for their moment and calling attention from both Lords. "You are both proficient with Devil magic, correct?"

Asking this could be seens as a insult for both of them, since they were the Heads of their Clans, but since I was human, I had some leeway with that. Lord Phenex answered. "Yes. Of course." As though offended by the question. Or maybe he was offended.

"Then can you take a look at all of these Evil Pieces and tell me what's different about them?" I asked them.

With a background of constant 'nya-nya' noises coming from the three Nekomatas, both Lords started to analyse the pieces. I deliberately put the pieces that weren't enchanted near them for them to test first. While they were testing I turned back to the two Nekomata girls I just liberated. "I'll ask you two the same question I asked the others. Do you two want to continue in Riser Peerage or prefer that Lord Gremory, Lord Phenex or myself to find you two another King? Or do you prefer to go back with you mother?"

They hadn't even register that I was there. I waited patiently for them. "Kitties~ Shi-chan asked a question."

"Shi-chan?" Lirniana asked.

"She means me." I said and crouched before the three that at some point had started rolling on the floor.

"Nyaa? Who are you?"

I sighed. "I'll ask a different question then. Do you two know what a Peerage is?"

"Peerage...?" Nirliana sat bolt upright after a moment. "Lord Phenex!" She was startled when she saw the man, and when her sister registered the same name, she too stopped dead in her movements.

I raised an eyebrow, then turned to the man who didn't even noticed that there were people talking about him not ten feet away. Then turned back to the three again. "Marlianna-san, I think it would be best if you take the girls for the room and explain the situation for them, okay?"

"Haaaai~ Come me with me, kitties~~ We'll meet your new old friends~~~"

The woman had barely opened the door, when the door opened fully from the other side, a completely redfaced Ravel walking out and shouting. "Father! Father! What happened with the girls? They are all acting strange."

The man turned to her and grimaced. "I don't know yet, Ravel. I don't know yet." He said the last part narrowing his eyes at me.

"Ravel-chan, Marlianna-san will explain everything for you girls in a moment. Can you wait inside that room while I talk with your father?" I asked, smiling to the girl.

She looked at Lord Phenex, then went back inside the room when he nodded at her.

I waited for them to finish analysing the pieces. I didn't think it would take so much time, but apparently it did. After finally reaching the end of the normal pieces, Lord Gremory was the first to get a modified piece. "What in the Maous name is this?"

Lord Phenex turned to him and the head of the Gremory Clan looked furious. "What happened, Gremory?"

He turned to the man. "Look at what you son did! It's an aberration! It's an outrage! It's- It's- I don't even have words to describe this desecration! It's what a Devil without any Pride in his wings would do. It's-"

The man continued his tirade, waving the piece, a Bishop, on Lord Phenex face without letting the man get his hands on it for he to analyse himself. "Lord Gremory." I cut in. "Please, let Lord Phenex analyse that piece so he can understand your shock."

The man stopped for a moment, looking at me blankly then at the piece, then at me again. Then he visible reigned in his temper and handed the piece to Phenex. He took the piece in hand and not five seconds later I started to sweat. Not because I was nervous, mind you. The room's temperature rose up several degrees in a instant, and I think I saw some flames sprout from Lord Phenex nostrils when he breathed.

He immediately let go of the piece and got another, then another, and another until the last one. One Rook, Two Bishops and Three Pawns. All modified with spells that could change, supress and even in some cases, delete memories at the will of the King. Another spell that could give an effect similar to Command but much more insidious, since it was subliminar, leaving the recipient without the backlash of a Command. And another spell that could control the piece directly, like a marionette. There was no puppet string because the spells were connected to the piece, not the caster.

It disgusts me that just from analysing the pieces, I was able to see all of that. What's worse, I could trace the pieces now too. I'm almost tempted to reverse engineer that spell to control memories and use it on myself.

The man didn't say another word, got up and left the room, carrying with him all the pieces. I looked at Lord Gremory and we both went after him. It didn't take long to find him though. His voice was quite loud once we got to the Lobby. "What is the meaning of this Riser?!"

I got there in time to see him throwing the pieces on his son's face. He was alone on his side of the lobby, while Rias' Peerage was all there on the other side. Asia saw me and immediatelly ran to my side. "Onii-chan, what's happening?"

"He's getting his just desserts. Sit back and enjoy the fireworks." I said grinning at the Sister.

"How can you subvert the trust we placed on you in such a manner?" The man continued. "Answer me!"

"What are these?" Riser asked, feigning cluesness.

"Don't think you can escape from this with that act, Riser! Answer me!"

"What are these Pieces?" He asked again.

"These are the Pieces Lord Emiya extracted from your Peerage." Lord Emiya? From young man to Lord Emiya in a few hours? Not bad, if can say so myself. "What did you do to them?"

"My pieces?!" He looked increduously. "How?"

"It doesn't matter how. The fact of the matter is that I was present when he extracted them so I can confirm authenticity! Now tell me. What. Did. You. Do." the men continued his browbeating.

"I-I-I-..." He continued to stammer until he caught sight of me, then his voice turned into rage. "You! You did this!" And jumped from where he was, forgetting about his father and lobbing a fireball in my direction.

"Svalinn!" I called. Svalinn was the name of the shield that was said to protect the world against the sun in Norse Mythology. It was plucked from the sky by Odin to be used during Ragnarok, and lost after the battle at the foot of Yggsdrasil. It's a perfect disk with two sides, one cold, protects against fire based attacks perfectly. No fire less hot than the sun itself can surpass it. The other side protects perfectly against cold with the same properties. The shield formed itself in front of my outstreched hand, and I held it in place until the fire dissipated. "Is that all, Riser?" I goaded the man. "After you basically brainwashed half your Peerage into being your slaves, you can't take the heat when you are called on it? You have to find another to place the blame on?" I nudged Asia to the side, so she could get away from his line of fire.

He was enraged enough to not even register when his father said. "Enough of this, Riser!"

He lobbed another fireball at me. "I remember this." I said after a moment. "The definition of insanity, right?" I said in a carefree voice. "But if you continue with this foolishness, I'll not care if Lord Phenex is right there." My voice went down in pitch, warning the Devil.

The guy was furious. With me or himself, I didn't know. "Shut up, Human!" He said scathingly. "You're not even an-"

"Human, human, human." I repeated airily, tilting my head to the side. "You people keep repeating that as if it was an insult. I love being human, you know? It's a honor." Then uprighted my head again. "And I distincly remember warning you that the last person who called me in that tone lost his heart and half his ribcage. His life as well, but hey they can't all be 'immortal' like yourself, right?" I forced a snort out at the 'immortal' part.

"That's it, I'll burn you!" And threw a stream of fire in my direction. I was already tired of using so much of my prana tonight in all the girls, but this guy was asking for it.

"Lord Phenex," I said to the man, while walking forward and using the shield "I apologize, but it appears I'll need to chastise your son in not picking a fight against his betters." The man narrowed his eyes at me but didn't say anything anymore. As soon as the stream of fire ended. "I'll recommend that you all get away from here. What I am about to do can get unpleasant for you Devils."

Riser jumped at me, I jumped out of the way and ran to the courtyard. "Come back here, Coward." And launched another fireball at me.

On a open space like this, he had the advantage. He had wings and I didn't, after all. But I need to rectify his image of humans. And what better place to do it than where, in his mind, he has the advantage.

A feral smile came to my lips when I felt the blades forming between my fingers. These weren't blades used for battle against humans.

He jumped at me again and the force of the punch would probably crush my skull. The heat of the fire he was coating his fist with would turn bone to ash in an instant. I whirled to the side and threw the first blade at his calf.

These blades are called Black Keys. They are used by executors during exorcisms and when hunting inhuman beings for the Church.

As soon as the first blade connected I began chanting.

"I will kill. I will let live. I will harm. I will heal." Riser tried to move his leg and realized that he couldn't. I threw another at his other calf.

"None will escape me. None will escape my sight." He cried out in pain when the second black key hit. I threw the third, piercing his left forearm.

"Be crushed." I continued chanting. Another Black Key found his right forearm. He was immobilized by the Holy power of the blades.

"I welcome those who have grown old and those who have lost." Another on his gut, sealing his powers with the fifth Black Key. Now he was powerless until the end of the ritual and could continue it without having to dodge his attacks.

"Devote yourself to me, learn from me, and obey me." His right shoulder.

"Rest. Do not forget song, do not forget prayer, and do not forget me." Left shoulder.

"I am light and relieve you of all your burdens." Right bicep.

"Do not pretend. Retribution for forgiveness, betrayal for trust, despair for hope, darkness for light, dark death for the living." Left bicep.

"Relief is in my hands. I will add oil to your sins and leave a mark." Right thigh.

"Eternal life is given through death." Left Tight.

"— Ask for forgiveness here. I, the incarnation, will swear." Heart.

I put both hands together in a prayer position, knelt on one knee and declared. "Kyrie Eleison".

It was a sight to see. The ritual of exorcism was only supposed to be done by genuine priests and exorcists, but I had seen too many Black Keys and symphathized with their histories to know that this ritual didn't have anything to do with faith, and everything to do with belief.

Basically, if you believe that it will have an result, it turns from an ritual to a twelve line Aria for a Holy spell, using the Black Keys as conduits. It attacks the nervous system of a inhuman being and overloads it with holy power making it shut down. Normally Kyrie Eleison would attack the Soul of the target that was hit with it, but since I didn't want to actually kill the poor bastard, I willed the attack this way. If the enemy is weak, they could die from that, if they are not so weak, or if they are like Riser here and can regenerate, it just keeps on attacking. Its just a question of who would win in the end, his regeneration or the power of the ritual.

In the meantime it must hurt like hell.

I walked in his direction. When the ritual's power first hit him, he fell down on his back. It was an ugly view. Where the Black Keys were connected on his body, the flesh kept burning and rebuilding itself. The smell of burning skin was filling the air around us.

I put my left feet on his chest, beside the Black Key piercing his heart and looked directly on his eyes, and started tracing another weapon. "Next time, I'll use this." Gae Bolg. The spear that he wanted. I let he feel the demonic power for a second, then dismissed it. "Now, be a good boy and own up for your mistakes." I gave two friendly slaps to the side of his face, with a condescending smile on my lips, before turning my back to him and going in the direction fo the lobby again. I walked four steps and snapped my fingers, dismissing the Black Keys.

Lord Phenex was looking at me wide eyed. Correction everyone was giving me a wide berth at this point. I turned to Rias' group. "What? I said I had holy weapons as well, didn't I?"

"O-O-Onii-chan? Where did you learn the sacrament?" The blonde girl asked me.

"Battlefields can be funny places like that. We encounter all kinds of people in them." I said, then turned to the two Lords. "It's your call now, Lord Phenex, Lord Gremory. I don't know if exists a punishment for this type of offense on the Underworld, but I think that if it doesn't, it should. Don't you?"

"Yes. I think it does." The patriarch of the Phenex Clan shook his head. "I can't believe that I raised a son who would do something like this."

I signaled for him to accompany me to the pieces that were scattered on the ground. "To be completely honest with you, Lord Phenex, I don't think that your son has the technical expertise to engineer this combination of spells. He doesn't strike me as a... thinking type."

The man narrowed his eyes at me then the implication hit him and he bobbed his head once. "Yes. Not to talk badly about my own son, but something so sophisticated is beyond his capabilities."

"So, someone provided him with the spells." I said. "The girls I sent to the first room, they are all fiercelly loyal to him. And that was natural loyalty, not created with these pieces. What I think is that he got the spell combination from someone else either because he got tired of waiting to find other pieces that were loyal enough to him, or because he wanted to make them part of his Peerage, his harem, any way possible."

He nodded again at my assessment.

"If you go back there with the pieces and offer them to the girls still loyal to him, they'll take in a heartbeat. What I want to know is if any of them were aware of the situation with the others or not." Then I grimaced. "Also, did you noticed something even more... bizarre is not the word I want, heartless, maybe?"

"What?"

"The two Bishops." I pointed at the two pieces. He looked at them but didn't make the connection immediately.

I was about spell out for him when he pulled a sharp breath. "Ravel!" I nodded and grimaced.

"Yeah... Ravel." His own sister.

"But, Lord Emiya, what is that you pretend to do with all this information?" He turned to me.

"Me?" I shrugged. "Nothing. I don't have the political clout with the Devils to do anything. Now if you were to take this to one of your Maous, Ajuka Beelzebub, right? The one who created the Evil Pieces? And show it to him, I don't believe that he's going to be much happy about someone messing with his work. Maybe he can discover who designed and engineered this spell combination."

"Yes. Yes, he won't be pleased with it." The man grimaced. "I'll get one piece for him, but I can't leave my son's set of Evil Pieces incomplete for so much time. Otherwise it would interfere with his duties. But I also can't deliver these back to him, with all these spells. I'll make him do the Peerage ceremony for all his pieces from now on to be done in front of me, after I examine his piece, but with these spells on these pieces..." He was going in circles. He needed to complete, or as complete as possible set of Evil Pieces, to get back in Riser hands for some reason. I'll have to ask Shitori or Rias about it some other time. But he couldn't in good conscience give them back as they were.

"I think I have a solution for this dillema. Tell me, would any piece be enough for Beelzebub to analyse?" I asked.

"Yes. I believe so. I just need to show a piece tampered with as proof. He may want to keep the piece for further exams, but I believe one would be enough."

I nodded at the man. "Then lets sort out the pieces with spells on them from the pieces without them." After a minute of sorting there were the three Pawns, two Bishops and a Rook. "Now take the Pawn."

He did as asked. "What do you have in mind, Lord Emiya."

"A test case." I smiled at him then turned for the group still chatting by the entrance. "Ise." I called for the pervert. "Can you come here a second?" He pointed at himself, looking confused. "No, the Ise that is a monk and shaves his head. You, obviously." I was losing my temper. This night has gone on too long already.

"What you want, Sempai?" He asked as soon as he got to us.

"See these five pieces." I noticed that even though I only called Ise, the others, including Lord Gremory, came soon afterwards. "Use that new spell of yours on them."

"Dress Break?" He asked dubiously.

"Did you really named the spell that?" I asked dismayed, and the girls giggled. "Why? No, forget it. Never mind." I waved my hand while pulling a deep breath, to give me a pause and time to collect myself again. "Why did you think I praised you when you created that spell? And why did you think I told you not to use on either Rias or Asia?"

"Erm... You didn't want to make them embarassed?" He tried.

"No. Well, maybe in Asia's case, but no. It wasn't because of that. Seriously, kid. You have no idea of what you created, do you?" I facepalmed. I could feel a headache coming with the sublety of a freight train. "Use it on the Pieces and I'll explain why, if it works."

He continue looking at me dubiously for a moment before he dutifully touched the five pieces. After a second, he snapped his fingers while declaring. "Dress Break." A burst of prana later and it was done.

"Seriously, kid. You're either the smartest or the luckiest guy in this universe." I said, touching a piece for a moment before handing it to Lord Phenex.

He took the piece and his eyes widened. "Remarkable."

"What? What did the pervert do?" Himejima asked.

"That little spell, Dress Break, doesn't break only clothes. It breaks spells and enchantments. These Evil Pieces had enchantments in them that weren't there originally."

"Wait? Dress Break works against spells too? How?" The pervert asked, confused.

"Do you really think I would praise you for creating a perverted spell, kid?" I said, bonking his head. "At the time I really tought you had created a spell breaker, that had the unfortunate side effect of destroying clothes. Not that the destroying clothes part was the end result that you were looking for. The reason I didn't want you using on Rias' was because I was afraid that would break our Pact." I explained for the wide eyed pervert. "Seriously, kid. If you used half the mind you use for thinking perverted stuff, in training your powers, you would be a beast on the battlefield."

"Thank you, Lord Emiya." I heard Rias' pull a breath sharply, probably about to say something to Ise, but my attention was on the Lord at the moment. "It's a shame that I can't invite you into my Peerage. I'm sure you would be a good Bishop." He smiled at me like it was a compliment. Thinking about it, maybe for him it was.

"Thank the Root of the world for that, then. Because if you had invited me, I would have to refuse you, sir. I like to be human." I smiled at the man. "But our work here still isn't done unfortunately. We need to see to those girls."

The man nodded. "After you."

I began walking in the direction of the room, vaguely aware that Ise was being half-chastised half-praised by the girls on his group. He was a good kid in the end. A little perverted... Okay, a lot perverted, but knew to tone it down when it mattered. Now I just need to beat into him that a warzone isn't considered a good place to gawk at the female body.

When I entered, Ravel was sitting alone inside the room, looking at the case where Rule Breaker was being kept. It actually wasn't, I had already dismissed it, but the box was sealed, so if she tried to open, an loud alarm would resound all around the school.

"Hello, Ravel-chan. How are you feeling?" I asked the girl, as politely as I could.

She ignored me in favor of one of my companions. "Father, what happened to the girls? Xuelan doesn't even recognize me, Marion is catatonic and acting robotically, Mihae doesn't answer us, and Ni and Li don't leave the side of that woman."

"I'm affraid we have much to talk, my daughter, but for now, can you call everyone into the room again. I'll call the others." He said, and walked in the direction of the door where the Queen and the others were.

After a minute, everyone was crowding the room. Divided by the types of pieces that were used. Lord Gremory was near the door to the exit beside me and Lord Phenex was in the middle of the room, pacing. "First, I would like to thank you all for partiticipating in this ceremony. It's with great sorrow that I must inform you that some wrongdoings were happening in our Clan, but with the help of Lord Emiya here, we were able to discover these misdeeds and hope to correct them."

He walked to one of the tables that was free and started aligning the pieces on it. I began to watch the girl still loyal to Riser closely.

"Some of the Evil Pieces on my son' set were tampered with. They created abominations. The ones who received these pieces were victims of brainwashing and mindcontrol. Not all the pieces were tampered with, but six of them were." He finished adjusting the pieces. "Six of these pieces were used on you. My son forced his will on six of you. One of those six was my daughter, his own sister. With that in mind, that my son is someone capable of such acts, I must ask you the same question Lord Emiya asked you during the ceremony. Do any of you want to continue being part of my son's Peerage or do you want me, Lord Gremory or Lord Emiya to find you new Kings?"

Either the girls were really oblivious, or they could fake really well. None of them reacted how I imagined to the news. I expected at least one or two of the girls to be aware of what Riser had done with his Pieces, but judging by their body language, none of them knew of the mess their King had created.

Yubelluna, Siris and Isabela stepped forward. The Queen voiced her own opinion. "I vowed to follow Riser even to the depths of Hades' realm. I'll continue to do so."

"Lord Riser promised enjoyable battles. While he's still delivering, I'll continue with him." Siris opined.

"Riser is a chauvinistic pig, but he's our chauvinistic pig." Isabella put in her two cents.

After the first three, Lle and Nel also swore their continued allegiance, same for Bürent, Shuriya and Mira. In the end only Karlamine didn't step forward, aside from the five by the other door.

"I'm sorry, but I can't continue to follow such a man. It goes against my code as Knight to continue serving someone who view others as tools." She grimaced. "But I'll also decline the offer for a new King. I would like to search for one on my own, if that's acceptable."

Loyalty is a fickle thing sometimes. Some people are loyal to an ideal, not a person, but end up idealizing a person, thinking them to be the embodiment of that ideal.

Needless to say, those are the loyalties that break the easiest.

I nodded, but Lord Phenex grimaced. "Unfortunately, we can't in good conscience let you do this. You need to have the protection of a King or you'll be considered a Stray and slayed on sight. The Phenex Clan can offer you some protection, but while you are part of our Clan you can't look for another King in another Clan. Even if you don't choose a King immediately you must leave here today as part of either Lord Gremory's Clan or the Phenex Clan, or have the protection of one of the other Devil Clan. I'm sorry."

Huh. I didn't know that. That could be a problem.

"The Senri Nekomata Clan of Hokuriku is prepared to offer asylum for all of you who want distance from the Devil Clans until you settle yourselves." Marlianna said from the other side of the room, surprising everyone.

"Oh?" Lord Phenex looked at the woman, who only now revealed her cat ears.

"Yes. If they agree to the contract, they'll be considered part of my branch of the family, and receive the protection of the Youkai as a whole." The woman said her voice firm, but her face gentle.

I have no idea how an Youkai match up against a Devil. I know that a Devil Nekomata at least is a force to be reckoned with, when they use they're atributes to their advantage, obviously. Koneko had more kills than anybody else in the field today, save Rias.

"Very well." He turned back to Karlamine. "Is that acceptable?"

The girl looked down for a moment, then swept her eyes over the girls on the other side of the room. After considering things, she nodded. "I'll accept as long as I can continue to look for my King on my own."

"Of course, of course." Marlianna said. "We can talk about it once we are back at the house." Lord Phenex turned back to the girls that where beside Marlianna, but before he could say anything the woman interposed herself again. "As for Xu-chan, Mari-chi and Mihae-chi, I already explained for them what happened, but we'll need some time, and some help, to undo the damage that was done to them." She bowed to the girls. "They too will come with me."

"I see." The man turned his face hard and then looked at me. "Lord Emiya, in light of your contribution in solving this case for us, I would like to keep the offer I made earlier for you open." I was about to answer but then he shook his head. "I know, I know. You like to be human, but if at some point later in your life you change you mind, me and my Clan would like you to be part of it. The honor which you conducted this ceremony and your investigation is something that we of the Phenex Clan admire."

An open offer, huh? Well, I don't intend to be here on this universe to ever become an issue, so whatever. "Very well. Thank you, Lord Phenex. May I ask you something, now that the main part of our problems is solved?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"That blade you carry. I'm sure you must have recognized it when it was used during the match, yet you didn't found it strange." I had to ask. Llofrudd, the sword blessed by Athena when he sent a greek warrior, whose name was lost to history, to slay the Phoenix and harvest its blood to be used in a potion to save the warrior's wife.

"Oh, at the time, yes. But there are more to the world than meets the eye, after all. I learned long ago that some secrets can be discovered without the secret keeper even knowing." He smiled at me and I had no idea what to make of that. Did that mean that there were other secrets behind Llofrudd or the Phenex Clan as a whole?

In the end I only smiled at the man, keeping the illusion that whatever it was, I knew about it.

I just hope that doesn't come back to bite me someday.


	4. An Unwilling Master

A/N: Don't own anything.

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 **An Unwilling Master**

* * *

"With this our contract is considered finished." Marlianna bowed to me and Rias. We were in the living room of the house that she had lent me. "Name your price over the already agreed amount." It was after midnight already, after the whole day spent in between the Rating Game and the whole fiasco afterward.

I scratched my head. After all this time, I hadn't even thought about the price. I only plowed ahead, trying to figure out what was happening, but in the end the answer ended up falling in my lap. I didn't even need to do much. Before I could even think about the price, Rias was already naming hers.

"First, the Gremory Clan would like to sign an alliance with the Senri Clan, Marlianna-san. I believe you can see that it can be beneficial for both our Clans if we had an alliance formalized. So I would like for you to lobby with your Elders for such. Second, the price we spoke of at the beginning... I'll not use my rights to receive it, as I wasn't the one who solved you case in the first place. I believe that any riches you want to expend in this situation should be better used in maintaining our alliance."

There was a minute widening of the cat-woman's eyes, but she showed no other reaction.

"Third, Shirou was the one who worked your case in full, so I believe any recompense should be directed entirely to him." The redhead was so matter-of-fact with that statement that I couldn't help but gape. She basically just put the whole affair on my back.

"So, Emiya-dono, what is the recompense you seek from us?" Way to put me on the spot, Rias. I grimaced.

"To be honest, I have no idea." I said after a moment. "I know that I said that I needed the money, but the whole affair was practically solved by itself. If it wasn't for me, there would probably be some other way to this issue to be resolved so I have no idea what to ask for."

The woman studied my face for almost a minute after that. She didn't say anything, but her reaction, or lack thereof, was making highly uncomfortable. After another minute passed, with her in silence, I was about to ask if she wanted some tea, just so that I could get out of that situation when she opened her mouth. "You really are a remarkable individual, Emiya Shirou-dono. What you did, don't matter if you downplay your part, was something that I could not hope to resolve on my own." She got up from her place and bowed to me. "I'll speak with the Elders about your situation and we'll make an offer tomorrow. If it's not enough, then you can make your counteroffer then. In the meantime, please continue to make use this house."

I got up too, and Rias beside me. Marlianna turned and was walking in the direction of the master bedroom when I asked. "About the girls..."

She stopped, half turned and asked tilting her head. "Yes?"

"Are they going to be alright? If there's anything that I can do to help..." I said scratching the back of my head.

"Ooh~ Don't worry, Shi-chan~" The airhead was on control again, apparently. "We'll take good care of them~~"

"I see." I smiled at the woman. "That's... good." I breathed out. It was, but I couldn't help but feel that it was my fault that they were in that condition in the first place.

The woman shook her head, amusement in her eyes, but didn't say anything. She walked down the corridor and into the bedroom. A burst of prana later and we were left alone inside the house, except for Asia who was already sleeping blissfully.

I turned to the redhead and asked. "So, in the end what you wanted was an alliance with the Nekomatas?" I wasn't judging her. She was a Devil and finding ways to get advantages through negotiations was one of their M.O.s.

"Yes. It's rare for a Youkai Clan to reach out to a Devil. Even more so nowadays, with the Shinto faith at an all time low, they spend most of their time in their inner cities and don't come out in the open." She sat again by the table. "So I couldn't let this opportunity pass."

"I see. Well, then with this our Pact is over right?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes. We just need to break the tablet and it will be over officially." She smiled at me a little wistfully. "Hey, tell me something. About that thing you did with me."

"Your Magic Circuits?" I asked her sitting down opposite her.

"Yes. Why did you say that it was strange?"

"Well," I tried to think of a way to explain. "Magic Circuits are like the blood vessels were the Od, the prana inside the body, can circulate and power up our mysteries, but you Devils use a complete different set of rules to cast your spells. You power your spells using mostly mana that is outside, in the ambient, and only use your internal Od for techniques that comes from a lineage or in case of the Reincarnated Devils, the Sacred Gears. With that in mind, is odd that you even have Circuits in the first place. I could understand if you were a Reincarnated Devil and had then before being turned, but you are a Pure-Blood. There would be no need for them to form, but they exist." Then a I shook my head and smiled at her. "Well, it worked for our advantage."

"Yes. It was weird using those techniques of yours, but whatever works, right?"

I only smiled at that. "Well, it was good that you touched this subject. Do you want me to close them again? I have no idea if you'll be okay after the Pact is finalized and my Soul isn't there to stabilize yours."

She grimaced. "Yeah. But can we at least try?"

I shook my head, smiling ruefully. Leave to a Devil to not want to give up power even if it could be dangerous. "Look, I'm not a good Soul Diver. I could only do this so easily for you because you Soul was already open to me. After the Pact is over, I have no idea what will happen. You could have no adverse effects, or it could kill you instantly. My father used to say that to walk the path of a Magus is to walk with death. Everything can and will try to kill you, even your own body. I have no idea what will happen with you. I could try and teach you the techniques I use, but as I am human, they may not work for you."

The knit eyebrows on her face and the pout on her lips was something that I wasn't used to see. This girl didn't let her hair down often, after all. At least not in front of me. "I see. It's a shame, but maybe its better this way."

"Well, if you want I can try to teach you the normal way to open them after the Pact is over, that way you can get acclimatized better to your own Magic Circuits." I offered.

"Really?" Her eyes lit up with excitement. "Can you do that?"

"It wouldn't hurt to try." I shrugged. "But I never taught anyone before so I can't promise anything. In the end, its entirely up to you."

"Okay." She beamed at me. "Let's do this. Can it be here, right?" She said, moving around the table and kneeling beside me.

"Yeah. Physical contact makes easier to trigger it for me." I said then knelt in front of her. "Fix your eyes in a point in space and focus on your Circuits." I ordered her. "Now breath deeply through your nose and let out through the mouth. Again. Relax." Little by little she began to enter the trance state necessary for this.

I put my hands on her shoulders and my forehead to hers, looking directly in her eyes. No need to follow the trail of Od this time, since she was right there. Pulling my consciousness into the Soul Dive, I waded through the murky image that it was still being created by the construct of my own making, just so that my mind could understand better what needed to be done.

After a minute or so, my _feet_ touched _solid ground_ and I _walked_ in the direction of the Circuits. All around me scenes from her life played out, and I did my level best to ignore everything. This was the worst case of invasion of privacy that I could think of. Nothing here could be kept a secret, and everything was open for me to see if I so wanted.

I finally _reached_ the Circuits, and they were all open, all nine of them. In a human, this set would be considered mediocre at best, but she wasn't a human in the end. Pulling the _connection_ from the Circuit, I _closed_ them, but left them _connected_.

After doing what I needed to do here, I made my way back to _entrance_ , and back into my own consciousnesses, just in time to hear a shriek in the room.

"O-O-Oni-chan?! B-B-Buchou!? E-E-Excuse me!" It took me a moment to understand what made Asia run inside her room and close the door while blushing so much. The position Rias and I were in, was pretty suggestive to anyone who didn't know what we were doing.

I blushed, despite myself. "Asia! It's not what you think..." I extended a hand in the direction of her door, but in the end, didn't move from my position. Rias was still in a trance and if I left her like this she would stay there for who knows how long.

I snapped my fingers in front of the redhead and she blinked several times. "It's done?"

"Yeah, it's done. Also, I think it would be a good idea for you to talk with your Bishop." I said point with thumb to the corridor. "She walked in on us earlier and may have had the wrong idea."

"Wrong idea?" She frowned. "About what?"

"Well..." I began, but then trailed off.

"Shirou?" She asked tilting her head to the side.

I sighed. "Think about the position we were in during the Dive. Think about how close our faces were. Now think about what does that image look from the outside."

The girl started making the connection and her face got increasingly redder and redder. "By the Maous..."

"Yeah... Asia walked in just as I was finishing..." I said.

"I... I'll go talk with her." Rias got up from her place too fast and stumbled, probably because of cramps, and before I knew it she was on top of me, as I laid down on the floor.

What's with this cliched accident?

"Are you okay?" I asked, and I swear that the blush on her face was starting to get almost in the same tone as her hair. To make matters worse, Asia opened her door exactly at this moment.

Seriously, romantic comedy, much?

"O-O-Onii-chan, Buchou, I don't think you should do these things in the living room." The blonde was beginning to make competition for Rias in the blushing department. Considering that I felt my face hot, I imagine that I was in that competition as well.

"It's not what you think, Asia!" We both said at the same time.

The blonde nodded dumbly at our double outburst and I would facepalmed if it wasn't for the fact that despite all that it was happening, the redhead hadn't moved from her position on top of me. And her chest was starting to make things get a little uncomfortable for me in my lower region.

"Asia, think about carefully about what you think you are seeing and what you know is the truth... Actually scratch that." I turned to the girl on top of me. "And how long are we gonna continue in this position?" If this was Himejima, I would say that she was doing on purpose, but Rias, although she wasn't exactly the shy type, wouldn't want to continue doing this. At least, I think.

I hope.

"Oh." She looked down at her body's position. "Oh." Then back at my face. "Oh!" Then scrambled to get out of top of me. "Sorry. My leg cramped up." She said, as she knelt down again.

"Yeah, I figured it." I answered after lifting my upper body and supporting myself on my elbows.

"Hmmm, Onii-chan? What's going on?" The blonde asked after she saw both of us.

"A lot of misunderstandings and a serious case of bad timing." I answered her after letting my body fall down again.

The former Sister tilted her head to the side confused.

* * *

We were walking to school in the morning after the whole debacle at home. I have no idea what Rias said to Asia, but for some reason the blonde refused to meet me in the eyes. It would be an awkward breakfast this morning if it wasn't for a presence that I was coming to simply take for granted. Koneko appeared on the doorstep just as I was entering the kitchen to prepare breakfast. The difference this time was that she had came with an empty lunchbox as well. If it wasn't for her, I would imagine that Asia would spend the whole time stuttering and stammering. At least she assured me that she understood that what happened yesterday night was really just a misunderstanding.

What didn't help was that she said that she wouldn't judge my choice of partner. I.e. She's still misunderstanding something.

Anyway, after the whole thing was basically swept under the rug, I made a point of not thinking about it anymore. Something was bound to go wrong if I tried to resolve on my own, so I acted like any self serving male with girl problems would. I ignored and hoped that all would blow over sooner or later.

As soon as we made to the gates, Asia and Koneko took off in the direction of the Occult Research Clubroom, saying something about straighten up the place. I suppose that after ten days of no use, the room would have collected dust and would need to be cleaned but was it really necessary to do it right now? Before classes?

In the end I shrugged and walked to the classroom, but before I managed to get there I was accosted by another figure that I have come to see much in the days leading up to the Rating Game. Shitori.

"Emiya-san," Instead of stopping, she fell into step beside me. "I would like to ask a favor of you, if it isn't a problem."

I looked at her, confused for moment but nodded. "Sure, what's up?"

"I would rather not talk about it in the hallway. Could you come to the Student Council Room during lunch break?"

I nodded again. "Sure, no problem. Actually Rias and I need to get the tablet with our Pact to break it anyway."

"Oh. So in the end you were right about the twins?"

"Yes. Not that its any consolation for the other girls with what I put them through." I shook my head, grimacing.

She was about to say something more, but decided against it in the moment we got to the door of my classroom. "We'll talk more about this later."

I looked at her quizzically for a moment, before nodding. "Huh... Sure." What's there to talk about in this situation?

While puzzling out what she meant by that, I greeted the room at large but not anyone specifically and went to my desk. Only when I sat and was pulling my books did I realize that there were some girls whispering while shooting furtive, or so they thought, glances at me.

I made a point of not looking at them, and Reinforced my hearing and focused on a group of girls in the corner just to see what was this all about.

"...yankee. Kaichou was even warning him."

"It was the suspension. He must have done something for being suspended for almost two weeks, right?"

"But it doesn't make sense. He's always helping people around."

"No, it does. Maybe he's trying to curry favor because he did something wrong."

"Or maybe its punishment..."

I sighed, releasing the spell. It seems that gossip mill is going strong. Whatever the truth about my sudden disappearance, the girls were already making their own guesses. Not that it mattered much in the long run, but it's a strange feeling to be compared to a yankee when I tried my best to be anything but.

When lunch break finally came around I picked up my lunchbox and ignored the chatter around, going directly to the rooftop. At least there I would be away from all the gossip and could start planning my next steps without being interrupted by a whisper out of nowhere.

Opening the door to the roof I was greeted by a sight that was so weird that I almost thought that I had forgotten one of the girls during my stunt yesterday, because there was standing in the railing, a girl wearing an honest to god Magical Girl outfit, complete with magic wand with an star at the tip. I must have stood there gaping at the sight for a good thirty seconds before my brain rebooted and I started to ponder if wanting more people to come to the rooftop before came to bite me in the ass finally, until the girl noticed me.

And I froze.

Three reasons for that. First, to put it into three simple words, she was gorgeous. No two ways about it. Not the sultry beauty that Rias or Himejima had, nor the cuteness Asia and Koneko had. The femininity she exuded, magical girl cosplay notwithstanding, was something completely ethereal, and left me transfixed when her blue/purple eyes fixed on me.

Second, for all that today was a cloudy day, in the spot she was standing there were several rays of sunshine bathing her like it was her right to have a spotlight whenever and wherever she went. The world itself would bend itself backwards in order to keep her in the center stage whatever she did.

Third, she was the most powerful creature I had even encountered in my life. Not even Gilgamesh with all his treasury or Caster with all the power she gathered at the Ryuudou Temple, or even the power of the almost completed Grail compared to her. She had her power leashed, but the scent was still overpowering me, and I felt that comparing myself with her would be like comparing an ant with a mountain.

"Oh!" She spun on her heel, jumping down from the railing, then spinning in place one more time. "Miracle Levia-tan is here~!" She said while posing with two fingers in a 'V' sign sideways over her left eye. "You must be Shirou-chan."

I nodded dumbly at the girl, her twin tails floating in a nonexistent breeze. I need to find a way home fast, otherwise I'll end up with white hair before my time. And no, Archer doesn't count when I think about my future self. I was almost at the age he died before coming here and still had all my hair in the natural color, thank you. With all the curveballs this world kept sending my way, I have no idea how much time I still had before I starting going gray.

The girl skipped in my direction, and my eyes couldn't help but trail down her neckline for a second. I mean, she wasn't in either Himejima or Rias' league, but the movement did interesting things for her anatomy, and the cosplay seemed to emphasize that. Immediately I looked up again, making sure to keep my eyes up, trying hard not to imagine the bounce-

No, no, no. Bad Shirou.

The newcomer was all smiles until she stopped in front of me, pulling a coy girlish pose with both hands behind her back while leaning forward from one side to the other while I battled with myself to keep my body upright and staring straight. Then all of sudden my instincts screamed at me. Her whole presence changed, her face closed and turned business-like. "Good morning, Emiya Shirou. I'm Serafall Leviathan, one of the four Maous, and the one responsible for foreign affairs concerning the Devils of the Underworld."

I went into battle mode. No other way for me to speak with her without turning into a gibbering mess. "Good morning, Leviathan-sama." I said bowing to the girl. "May I ask what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from one of the governors of the Underworld?"

"There are some matters that we need to discuss but they'll take time and right now isn't the best time for it. I only came right now to greet you." She curtsied at that. "And please..." Her whole presence changed again. "Call me Levia-tan~ !" She said, while biting her tongue at the side of mouth, smiling brightly and winking at me. It threw me for a loop. She changed personalities way too fast. Not even Rin, who was a Magus her whole life could change gears that fast. "See ya, Shirou-chan!"

I was still reeling from the change, when the girl turned and literally skipped down the stairs.

I have no idea what to make of this situation. After spending almost a minute staring at the stairs where she had disappeared to, I had just turned back to the rooftop, looking at the spot the girl was standing before when I heard a cry of "Oniiii-chan!" before two arms wrapped themselves around my waist from my back making me take two steps with the force of the tackle.

I craned my neck to look at the Sister, when I realized that she wasn't alone. Himejima and Koneko were with her. I nodded at both of them, and the Shrine Maiden smiled slyly at me.

I'm not gonna like this lunch break, am I?

"So here is the ultimate hiding spot of the worst yankee in Kuoh history?" Himejima said.

I gaped at her. "There's so much wrong with that sentence that I don't even know where to begin."

"Hoh, so it's not here then?" The brunette smiled impishly.

I was about to answer her then shook my head, sighing. No point entering a debate with this girl. Whatever I said to her she would twist so much that I wouldn't even recognize how the conversation would even get to that point. So instead I ignored her in favor of asking the blonde. "What's up, Asia? I thought you would be eating with your classmates today."

The girl, that was rubbing her cheek on my back for some reason, finally let me go. "I was going to, but Koneko-chan and Akeno-san wanted to talk with you but didn't know where to find you."

I nodded. "I see." Then breathed out hard. "Well, if you guys don't mind talking while we eat? It seems everyone wants to give me a piece of their minds today. Shitori too wants to talk with me."

"Kaichou-san?" Asia asked, tilting her head after she let go of me.

"Yes, so..." I said, signaling them to go to one of the benches.

Asia was opening her lunchbox on her lap when I noticed that Himejima wasn't carrying one of her own. Koneko too, but with the speed that the Nekomata normally inhaled her food it wouldn't surprise me if she had already ate her own lunch.

"You guys aren't going to eat?" I asked anyway.

"Oh, no. My lunch in back at the clubroom. I only came to warn you that there someone at school who wants to talk with you and for you to be respectful with them. We don't want you to be in trouble so soon after the whole thing with the Phenex Clan." The brunette said.

"That someone wouldn't by chance be a Magical Girl cosplayer? One that apparently is one of the four Maous?" I asked, already knowing the answer. "Oh, and has so much power that I was forcing myself not to tremble just from being near her for two minutes?"

"Oh, so she already introduced herself." The mirth on Himejima's face disappeared for a moment. "If she didn't do anything, then that's good... That's... good." She grimaced and bit her lower lip. "Just a piece of advice. Don't get too close to Kaichou during the time she's here."

It was my turn to be confused. "What does Shitori has to do with her?"

"You'll understand when you visit Kaichou later." Himejima said. "I'll be going now." She bowed to me, and the small smile was back on her face. "See you later, Shirou."

I was still trying to piece together the connection between Shitori and Levia-tan that I didn't even realized that Himejima had bid her farewell and was leaving the rooftop. Did she really came here just to warn me? Weird. Koneko or Asia, heck even Rias, I could understand, but not Himejima. We didn't have that kind of rapport with each other, I think.

Did we?

"Do you know what that was all about, Koneko?" I asked the white haired Nekomata absently, only to realize that she wasn't looking at me. She was looking at something below my line of sight. Following her line of sight I had to force myself to not sigh in exasperation. "Did you already have lunch?"

She nodded. So I was right in thinking that she had already done in the lunchbox I had prepared for her this morning.

"And now you want mine as well, don't you?" She nodded again and I sighed. "Here." I handed the parcel to the girl and got up. "I'll go to the cafeteria and see if I can buy something for me." She didn't even acknowledged me and started to industriously eat the lunch. Asia was about to get up herself, when I waved her down. "I'll be right back."

She nodded and relented. "I'll wait to eat with you, Onii-chan."

I only smiled at the girl. Seems like whatever she was still thinking of this morning was water under the bridge now. Maybe Rias had managed to come through in the end and explained things for the blonde this morning?

Well, at least it was one less thing for me to worry about.

* * *

It did not compute. I closed the door, took a deep breath and opened again. Still the image was the same, still did not compute. I closed one more time, but before I opened again, someone opened from the other side and I saw the image again.

Shitori, with her hair frazzled, her glasses knocked askew on her face, had a magical girl wrapped around her back like an oversized backpack, while said magical girl rubbed her cheek on the bespectacled girls cheek while crying with delight. "So-tan~ So-tan~" The image was so at odds with the normal image I had of the girl that my brain refused to acknowledge it as real. Kusaka, who had opened the door again, was in between looking at me amused and looking at her King worried, and couldn't decide which would be better at the moment.

"I can come later, Shitori." I said and she only noticed that I was at the door at that moment. Her face lit up like a Christmas Tree. "I can see you're busy with... whatever this is."

"NO!" The girl shouted. "Emiya-san! Come here!" Then she added only mouthing the word, without actually voicing it. "Please."

I looked at her for a second then shrugged. It wouldn't be the first time I entered a minefield knowing that the probability of blowing up in my face was greater than if I simply stepped back. "Sure."

"Ah~ Harou again Shirou-chan~" The cosplayer said.

"Hello, Levia-tan." The moment I said that, the room froze in silence. Even Shitori stopped struggling against the friendly assault. I swear I could hear her heartbeat if I concentrated hard enough, such was the silence.

Then it erupted into an incredulous. "Eeehhh!" From all around the room.

"Oh~ Right~ I forgot to tell you that I ran into him earlier." The twintailed woman bonked her own head with a fist in a cutesy fashion.

Shitori looked at me incredulously. Then she visibly shook it off. "Onee-sama, I have to talk with Emiya-san about some matters of importance. Could you leave us alone for a few minutes?"

Onee-sama, huh?

...

Wait. What?

What's up with that picture? First Rias' brother is one of the Maous and now Shitori's sister is another? I just hope that a Phenex isn't another of the Maous too, otherwise I would have a trifecta.

"Awn~~ But So-tan does not let me be with her near enough~" She put a finger on her cheek, looking up as if thinking hard about something then her eyes lit up. "I know! I know! I'll stay here until you finish your conversation so we can play more."

From the way Shitori's eyes twitched and the veins popped at the side of her head, she really didn't like that suggestion. "Onee-sama. The matter I have with Emiya-san is private. I wouldn't like to talk about it with you in the room."

"A~re~ Arere~" The woman looked between her sister and me several times, before pointing a finger at me and draping the other arm around Shitori's neck. "NOOO! So-tan is mine! I'll not let any brute get her away from me! No! No! No!"

Shitori's blush turned atomic. "NO! That's not it at all!" For all that I was inside the room and they were talking about me, I couldn't look away. It had the same fascination of a train wreck. It was horrible, but you couldn't tear your eyes apart from it.

"But then there's nothing so private that I can't know about, right?" The woman pointed out.

"Yes! There are things I don't want you to know about me!" The girl tried to put her foot down on the matter but the effect was somewhat diminished, what with the cosplayer still wrapped around her.

"But I know everything about my So-tan!" I have no idea how, but she pulled a photo album out of thin air. It didn't have even a burst of prana to go with it, so I'm sure it wasn't magic. How in the world she did that? "Here, when you were two years old-"

It was all she managed to get out before she stopped cold, with the same look a kid who was just caught with his hands in the cookie jar before dinner on her face. "Onee-samaaa. You'll not show the family album to anyone outside the family or my Peerage, and that's final. Do you understand?"

"B-B-But So-tan~" It was weird seen a being so powerful that it could probably destroy the entire country with a snap of her fingers cowed by her stern little sister.

"No buts! Now, leave before I have to make something you'll regret!" The woman was honestly to Akasha frightened by whatever the brunette was threatening her with.

"No. Anything but that. I'll be good. I'll be good." Then she switched gears instantly again and looked directly at me, as if the fear she felt a second before didn't exist in the first place. "So, Shirou-chan, I'll see you later, okay?" Then she spun on place, posing with her wand pointing to the ceiling. "Miracle Levia-tan is going to find bad guys to beat!" And in a burst of prana she disappeared.

I waited ten seconds looking at the point where the woman had evaporated in thin air to ask the question that I'm sure anyone in my position would. "By Zelretch's fake beard. What just happened?"

Ignoring my question completely, Shitori began to compose herself, before coughing on her hand. "Well, now that the distraction is over, maybe we can have a conversation."

I could have let her ignore the question. I could have left it that, because I was honestly afraid of what just had happened. But in the end I just couldn't let it go. "No, no, no. Don't think we can have a decent conversation before you explain what just happened here."

She strained, visibly. "Well, Serafall Leviathan is my sister."

"Yes, we already established that." I nodded at her, signaling for her to continue.

"And she has some... questionable... preferences..." Shitori apparently was trying very hard to find words that didn't offend her absent sister.

"She's a siscon." Shinra chimed in then. "A unrepentant and unrecoverable siscon." Apparently the Vice-President didn't have such compunctions.

"Yeah." Shitori looked down defeated. "There's no other explanation."

I looked at her for a second, forcing myself to believe that what I just witnessed was just a one time thing and wouldn't repeat itself.

Who am I kidding, it was probably a daily occurrence, which brings me to the next point. "And what exactly did you threatened her with to make _the_ Leviathan so scared that she all but fled the place?"

She frowned, blushing to the roots of her hair. "Emiya-san, there are some things that I simply can't say."

Well, if she can't say then I shouldn't pry, after all some private things needed to continue private, but I couldn't help but to needle the usually composed Student President. "So the Sisterly love is something you two share then? What's that called again? Yuri-"

"No!" The way the blood rushed out of her face as she paled made me honestly afraid that she would have a embolism, so fast the color drained from her. "Not that, pervert. I just scared her into thinking that I wouldn't watch her show anymore."

"Oh." I stopped for a second to process that. "Wait. That can't be right. Actually there are several things not right in that sentence. First, show? She has a show?"

"'Miracle Levia-tan!' Is all the rage on the Underworld TV apparently. A show about the Maou who is also a Magical Girl." Saji chimed in. I nodded at him but returned to the once again blushing president. Seriously, those changes in complexion can't be healthy, even if she's a Devil.

"Okay, so I can kinda understand why she was cosplaying. She came here directly from a shoot or an event then?" I asked, then another thing he said come to me as well. "And the Underworld has TV shows specifically for itself?"

"Yes there _is_ an Underworld TV. No one believes until they see." Shitori said with an resigned tone of someone who already explained that hundreds of times. "And no. Unfortunately she didn't came here from a shoot or event."

"But then why was she wearing that outfit?" I was honestly confused. In the Clock Tower, the more powerful the Magus, the more pompous they like to dress. Sometimes you could tell if the Magus in question was a from a good lineage only from the ostentation of his or her clothes and accessories. That woman, more powerful than anything I have ever came across, wore barely enough to keep her modesty in that outfit.

"Don't ask. No one knows exactly why and she doesn't explain either." She said, hanging her head with the despair of a sister who couldn't hope to understand the eccentricities of her older sibling.

"Okay." I waited a few seconds, thinking about asking why the Leviathan would be so scared of Shitori not watching her show, but decided that I wouldn't really like the answer, one way or another. The day already had too many revelations, and it was still noon. "Well, what was that you wanted anyway? If it was something to fix in the school I don't think you would want to meet here instead of telling me earlier this morning."

She composed herself, adjusting her glasses. Then sat straight on her chair, put her elbows on the table and crossed her fingers. "What I want is for you to train us."

"Come again?"

"I know that what you did for Rias was something that you needed to do to fulfill the contract you had with her, but I'm asking you to help us with some kind of training regimen that we could use in order for us to train for the Rating Games." Shitori said, trying to explain her reasoning.

"I see." Then frowned. "But why? Don't tell me you too have an arranged marriage on the line, because if you do, I'll honestly despair about the continued existence of your species."

"What?! No! No, nothing like that." She answered a little louder than I was expecting. "In a few months there'll be a tournament in the Underworld. It's called the Young Devils Gathering. In it, all Young Devils with age between eighteen and twenty five that hadn't debuted yet in an Official Rating Game will need to make their first appearance."

I hummed. Well at least its still months away, so no need for be so frantic as it was in Rias' case.

"And as you can imagine, there's a lot of pressure on me because I'm the sister of one of the Maous." She put a hand on her forehead, then let it down again. "I know that I have no chance of winning the tournament, but I need every edge I can get that would better my chances of doing well and not shame my family."

"Huh, so the Shitori Clan will also be in attendance?" I asked.

"Sitri. Shitori is the name I use in the human world to simplify communication." She corrected me.

"Oh... I see." Then looked at the ceiling for a few moments to gather my thoughts. Shitori was helping me in reading those tomes down at the library, something that I should get back to as soon as possible, and she did came through for me more than once. "Okay, I'll help you, but why are you so certain that you won't win the tournament? Are you afraid you won't be strong enough?"

"No. I have confidence in my Peerage. The only problem is with the competition. There are at least two other Devils in this year's Gathering with the potential for becoming Ultimate-Class Devils. The last time we had a Devil with that potential was before the Evil Pieces System was even established. I'm sure you can understand what that means, right?"

I grimaced. So, even if she fights with all she got, she won't be able to win, huh? That sucks, because if it wasn't this year, she would probably do very well in her fight. I was about to ask her why not delay a year then, so her chances of winning would be better, but then it would be probably a combination of her Pride as Devil, the machinations of her Clan and her own need to test her power against the strongest opponents she could find.

"Very well. When do you want to start?"

"We usually train twice a week, here at school after hours. Usually we start at eight."

I nodded at that. "And when is the next session?"

"Tomorrow."

I nodded again. "Right, but I think its fair for me to warn you. The kind of training I'll put you through will be the worst thing you'll ever face. Rias only went along with me because she had no other choice." I had to warn her. There's no way for her to be so soft.

"Yes. We're prepared to face any adversities." She said.

"Oh, no you aren't." I smiled at her. "If you think that you need my help to have a chance in this tournament, then you haven't seen nothing yet. See you tomorrow then." I said, leaving the room.

Poor bastards. They will think I'm a sadist in short order. I smiled ferociously when I was out of the room.

She just handed me a way to blow off some steam.

* * *

After school, I was going in the direction of the Occult Research Club in order to break the Pact's tablet with Rias. I have no idea if I need to be present for it or not, and she didn't say anything too, so better safe than sorry. The connection we had already disappeared too. I didn't even realized that it wasn't there anymore until I was in the classroom this morning. I spend so much time with Devils in my vicinity nowadays that when I don't feel the power of one it's noticeable. I only realized that I wasn't feeling Rias' power until after I was already on the middle of the first period.

As soon as I walked inside the room I was greeted by the sight of Kiba disappearing in a teleportation circle in the floor. The boy saw me, and I believe he was about to wave, but didn't quite get the chance. I'm honestly impressed with myself that I don't even find this kind of thing as novel anymore as I had the first time I saw Rias teleport to Ise's side when he was dying.

I looked for the redhead but she wasn't in the room. Actually there wasn't anyone else in the room. That was strange, normally at least Koneko would be here, if Rias wasn't. I went to the little kitchen in the corner to see if anyone was there, but didn't see anyone as well. Sighing, I put water in the kettle and put it on the burner.

After waiting a few minutes for the water to boil, I prepared three cups, just in case, but only poured one for me and directed myself to the couch where I usually sat when I come here. As I was about to sit down, the door opened with the two Great Onee-samas of Kuoh making their appearance.

"Oh, good afternoon, Shirou." Rias greeted me, as she entered the room. "Where's the others?"

"Good afternoon, Shirou." Himejima too greeted and went directly to the kitchen.

"No idea. When I got here, Kiba was teleporting out. He's the only one I saw so far." I shrugged.

Rias bit her lip, then walked to her chair. Then watched quizzically as Himejima came back into the room and put one of the cups I had prepared earlier for her King.

"It seems that we had someone trying to take over our little kitchen." The brunette sent that jab in the air.

The redhead looked her Queen confused for a moment before it dawned on her and she grinned impishly. "I see. Then we'll have to either defend our territory or invade theirs, don't you think?"

"Oh, I wouldn't dare to act in such a way, Buchou." The girl sat in the couch directly across from me. "It's so uncouth from someone to appropriate themselves of things that don't belong to them."

I grimaced. "Okay, okay. Sorry for messing with your kitchen."

"Oh, I have no idea what you are talking about." The girl put a hand on her mouth to hide her smile, but her eyes told the whole story. "Do you, Buchou?"

"Oh, no. I don't." Then she took a sip of the tea and stopped, her features turning from mirth to confusion then to disbelief.

"Buchou?" The girl in front of me asked worried with the reaction coming from the redhead.

"Rias? What's wrong?" I asked. Did she felt something that I didn't? Come to think of it, what's the range a Devil has to feel the supernatural? I know that my range is big, but I never discovered about their range. There was that time outside of the Student Council Room, but that could be because they weren't paying attention? Or maybe that Bounded Field dampened their senses? Or maybe it was something that reacted to the Bounded Fields around the school that she felt?

The girl, lifted her head, looking disbelieving from the cup to me, then to Himejima, then to Himejima's untouched cup, then back to her own. "It's..."

The Shrine Maiden noticed the movement and took a sip of her own tea and reacted much the same, but in her case instead of disbelief in her eyes it was something else. I couldn't quite place what it was, but it was definitely different. After putting the cup back on the saucer she looked at me with that smile that I know hides a million and one things. "Well, it looks like I'll need to brush up on a few things."

Rias for her part continued to look in disbelief of what was happening in front of her. I must have looked confused with their reactions because I honestly have no idea what was going on. The same instinct that said to me when to dodge a strike was screaming at me to change the subject fast, so I only obeyed. I have no idea what was going on with the two of them, but I knew a tripwire when I saw one. "So, about the tablet..." I began.

The girl looked at me, confused then she understood what I was talking about. "Oh, yeah. I went to Sona to get it for us before coming here."

I nodded. "I see. Then what's the procedure? Is there some kind of ritual about it?"

"No. The Pact has already finished after Marlianna went home yesterday." She shook her head. "This is just so that both parts are present when the tablet is destroyed. Our case is a little special in that the Pact was done without the oversight of the Office of Heraldry or the Elders of the Clans of the parts involved, so it just needs to be the two of us. If there was oversight, then we would need to send a message to the Office and it would be a whole lot more complicated."

"I see, then how are we going to destroy it? Just set it on fire or something?"

"Well, it can be with fire, but I think I know a better and cleaner way, if you don't mind." She asked, I only nodded and signaled for her to continue. She took the tablet with both hands and in a burst of prana she tablet disintegrated in her hands, just like the draft of the contract had before.

"Oh. That's... handy..." I said, honestly thinking about it, whatever spell she was using could be fatal when used in battle. "Can't you use it during combat?"

She looked at me confused. "Use what?"

"That disintegration spell."

She continued looking at me until it hit her. "Oh, no it's not a disintegration spell. I don't even think that such a thing exists, to be honest. This is just one of the properties of the tablet. With the right amount of mana sent into it, it will disappear by itself."

"But you used on the draft that time." I argued.

"And from what do you think the paper for that was created from?" She shot back.

"Oh!" I shook my head. "So, does all the wood in this place you get your papers and tablets have the same properties or it comes from manufacturing?"

"I... have no idea." She frowned. "It just works that way, if its from before or after the mana treatment, I have no idea." She shrugged. Well, she is just a high school girl, even if she's a Devil. Can't blame her if she doesn't know everything about her society.

"Hummm..." I thought to myself. "I just thought that maybe that was where Ise created his spell breaker, only taken to the logical extreme. I thought that you had taught him the principles for it."

"No." The redhead shook her head slowly. "Although... Come to think of it, that really what the secondary effect of his spell does... Maybe if he..." At this point she started mumbling by herself and I couldn't hear it anymore.

"So... That's it?" I asked loud enough to get her attention again. I just had to make sure that there were no other problems with the pact.

"Yes. It is." She said bobbing her head, then stopped and looked at me. "About what we talked yesterday, it seems they really are closed. I can't channel Od the way you taught me, but I can use my Power of Destruction normally."

"I expected that." There's no way that she would be able to learn to trigger her Circuits overnight. Since she's a Devil, a being practically made of magic, she shouldn't have a problem with maintaining her Circuits open the entire time, but now that I closed them, she would have trouble with learning how to trigger the Circuits on her own. "At least you'll not be making the same mistake I did when I first began learning about Magecraft."

"Really? And what was that?" Himejima asked.

"Well, there's a way to create an artificial Magic Circuit, but doing so is dangerous. The first time I did I almost became paraplegic." I commented like it didn't matter. For me it didn't, but the girls pulled in sharp breaths.

"What, how? It's in the Soul, right? It's not on the body, so how could this happen?" The redhead asked again, sitting forward on her chair.

"It's actually quite simple. Natural Magic Circuits are on the Soul, connected to the body through the nervous system, so to create an artificial Magic CircuitMagic Circuit you cut off the first part and replace one of the nerves on you body with an inferior copy of a Magic Circuit. At the time, I focused on the longest one I could find with my mind, and that was the one going through my spine, and... well... you can imagine the damage." At the time I didn't know, but if it wasn't for Avalon inside me, I really would be paraplegic, if not dead even before the Grail War began.

"That's... dangerous..." Rias commented cautiously.

"As I said, to walk the path of Magecraft is to walk with death. Of course, the way I was doing was so wrong in the first place, that after I learned the right way, when look back at those times, I shiver with how close I was cutting it." I grimaced remembering those times then shook off.

"And how can I trigger my own Circuits?" Rias asked.

"We can try some meditation or other methods so you can learn your own triggers, but I don't see any advantage in doing. You don't use Magecraft, and my mysteries are so specialized that I would not be able to teach you anything useful." I lifted my hand in the air. "Remember all the problems you had just to create that one blade?" I asked then intoned. "Trace on." I formed Llofrudd in my hand instantly. "I do this instinctively because I trained so wrong for such a long time that I effectively created a whole new branch of Magecraft."

She looked crestfallen, if by my words or by the easiness I formed the sword I don't know. I dismissed it and Himejima chimed in then. "Can you try with me too?"

I grimaced. "I don't think so. I could with Rias because her Soul was open to me, and I could feel her Circuits during the Pact. I don't even know if you have any to begin with. That's one of the most problematic things on Magi lineages. Sometimes comes a generation of Magi in a family that simply don't have any or enough Circuits to be able to receive their Family Crest."

"Family Crest?" Rias asked.

"Too much to explain right now." I waved off. "Bottom line is, I could try but I have no idea what will happen. As I said, I don't have that much experience with Soul Dive."

Himejima bit her lip. "But you can, right?"

I frowned at that. "I just said is dangerous and can possibly cripple you. And all for something that has little to no use for you. Why do you want to try?"

She looked down, trying to collect her thoughts. In the meantime, I looked at Rias but she too looked worriedly at her Queen. When I looked back at the brunette she had a face set in determination. "I have my reasons. Magic is everything I am good at. If there is even a possibility of me getting stronger, then I think it's worth it." I frowned at her.

I'm sure that she wasn't being completely truthful with that just by looking at Rias' grimace. There should be some story about it, but it was not my place to pry. I'm the last person to judge others for trying to get stronger with reckless methods.

"Very well. Let's do it like this. I'll try, but as I said, I don't know if it'll work, okay?" The girl nodded and I got up. "Then first, do you guys have a Formalcraft circle designed to eliminate the ambient prana for analysis of the..." I trailed off when they looked at me blankly.

I had to facepalm. Maybe they had but they wouldn't call it that. "Formalcraft circle?" Case in point, the redhead asked.

"Yeah. Didn't think so." I moved my hand from my face. "What about a magic circle that eliminates the ambient prana inside it?"

She knitted her brows. "No. I don't think I ever heard of those." She looked at Himejima who just shook her head.

"No? Then how do you guys research new spells?" I asked bewildered. "Or new ways to channel your techniques?" She blushed and looked away from me.

She shook her head minutely and I let an exasperated sigh escape. "Normally," Himejima began. "when we are researching new spells we go to areas where there's a lot of ambient mana to power up the new arrays of the spell we're trying to create. After that is easier to recreate the effect once we know the exact equation for it in the first place."

Taking her explanation, I was about to say that it was actually counterproductive to spend so much energy on a spell that you didn't even know if it would work or not, but then had to reel my thoughts back. I was still thinking in terms of my own universe where prana in the ambient was scarce and you needed to use the absolute minimum necessary to create the maximum efficiency. Some of the spells I saw being used by the Devils here, while they didn't exactly waste too much energy, could be refined to be more streamlined.

Himejima's lightning spells during the Rating Game came to mind. They were powerful, yes, but she spent too much of her prana directing the bolts. They were more precise, maybe because there were allies around the two times she used and needed the control, but during training she used the same amount of power on that spell. In that case she could have the same result with spending less mana, and consequently less stamina, leaving her with a better window to chain her spells, like many elementalists did.

Elementalists were the worst kind of Magi back on my universe. Once they achieved a certain level of control on their chosen element, you needed a very specific set of tools to be able to fight against one. And some Dead Apostles were elementalists too, to make matters worse.

"Shirou?" The brunette's call brought me out of my reverie.

"Oh, sorry. Lost in thought for a second there." I shook off my ideas and continued. "Anyway, if you guys don't have a circle like that, then we need to draw one."

"Draw?" The redhead asked. "Tell me that it doesn't need to be with blood, please. Because some of the stories I heard from the older Devils about the circles they were summoned to being drawn using the blood of virgins or kids or cattle were disgusting."

Huh... A Devil who don't like offerings in blood. Apparently this universe is making a point to me today that it is definitely not mine. "No. It's not designed entirely out of blood. Blood can be used as the catalyst for the Magus to insert his Od on the paint but it's not strictly necessary. It can be other fluids, like spit, semen, urine or any other body secretion, but blood is the more readily available and the cost-benefit is higher."

They both made faces at my alternatives. Tough for them. Magecraft isn't always pretty. If they want me to teach them about it, they'll need to get used to these things.

My mind screeched to a halt and my eyes widened at that thought. Teaching them? Why am I even thinking about teaching them again? And even then, aside from Reinforcement, Alteration, Structural Analysis and Projection what can I teach them? My brand of Gradation Air is practically impossible to be used without my Reality Marble, and I'm not even good enough for myself with Runecraft to try and teach them. Most of what I know about Runes is what needs to be used to create Boundary Fields, and they can create Boundary Fields much more easily with their own techniques.

Maybe I'm going about this from the wrong side. Maybe if they knew more about Magecraft they could help me find a way home more easily. If they knew about my way of handling mysteries, they could correlate with what they already know more easily?

I shook my head. "You're doing it again." Rias brought me out of my reverie one more time.

"Hum? Oh, sorry." I scratched the back of my head. "It usually happens when I'm thinking about my art."

"Art?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well. It's called Magecraft for a reason. We need to Craft the mysteries to be able to use them. It's not just a case of remembering the flow of Od or Mana, sometimes we need to create vessels for the mysteries, like Mystic Codes, other times we need to align the flow in a certain order to maximize effectiveness..." I stopped and looked at the girls, who had a mix of confusion and mirth on their faces.

"I see." The brunette said.

" _Any_ way... We need draw a circle that eliminates the ambient prana for even trying to do what you want me to do." I said, circling back to the initial request.

Rias looked at me with her eyebrows knitted. "Why? You didn't use anything like that when you done it to me during training camp or yesterday at your house."

"That's because your Soul was already open to me." I said sighing. Am I talking Greek here? Wait, they would understand Greek, right? "In her case," I pointed to Himejima. "I'll need to break the barrier around her Soul to be able to look inside, but to do that with the interference of the ambient prana would be complicated. There could be cross contamination, not to mention that she isn't even human, so I have no idea what would happen with her or with me. I don't know if even without the interference will be possible to be honest."

"Why don't you try first then?" She said it. "I mean, if it doesn't work, then we can try and do this again after we draw the circle, right?"

I frowned thinking about it. It wasn't that impossible to manage that, since Rin could do it almost anywhere. Just needed to concentrate, but she was considered a genius for a reason. She could make the most outrageous things look easy. I could try, but I'm almost certain that it would be fruitless. In the end, I relented. "Alright, I'll try, but don't get your hopes up." I said the last part to the brunette.

"Alright." She said. "So, what do I need to do?"

I scrubbed my hand on face hard and breathed out explosively. Then got up and walked around the table in front of the couch she was sitting. "First, kneel seiza style here on the floor."

"Oh," The brunette commented, smiling slyly. "Making a girl grovel at your feet already are you?"

I was about to comment in the inappropriateness of the remark when I realized that her face was actually strained. She was scared and covering that with mirth. I shook my head in exasperation. "Just do it, alright?"

She did. I knelt in front of her. "Now what?"

"You have a place inside yourself that your mana gathers when you cast your spells. If you have any Magic Circuits, they are probably centered around there. I need you concentrate and find that place inside yourself." She nodded in a stutter. "Even if you have some kind of special technique that is dangerous or suicidal to use, if it is the strongest you have, its where you should concentrate for this to work, okay?" She nodded again. "Are you sure you can find that place?"

"Yes. I always knew where it was." She said, grimacing. Something about it made her uncomfortable.

I frowned at that. "Look, what I'm about to do can be an invasion of privacy. If there are things you don't want me to know, its better if we don't do this. I'll try to not look where I shouldn't but as I'll be going in blind, I'll probably see things that I don't know if you would want me to know about you or not. The Soul only records the stronger memories a person has, or actually the memories with the strongest emotions attached are the only ones etched in the Soul. So if I end up seeing anything, it'll be either something incredibly good or incredibly bad."

She looked stunned at me. "Then you'll see..." She trailed off.

My mouth twisted more and my frown deepened. "Yes. Not that I'll ever talk about it if you don't want me to, but I'm liable to discover secrets without meaning to. And all of that taking into consideration that maybe I won't find anything there. The more I need to look for the Circuits, the more I'm bound to find things that you don't want me to. A Soul Dive normally is done in kids that are barely on elementary school, so they don't have much to hide. In your case though..."

She looked down, then at me, and for a moment I saw another face on top of hers, familiar lilac hair and eyes, haunted, a similar smile that hide so many things behind. Then the moment was gone when she turned to the redhead that, at some point, moved from her chair to sit on the couch near us.

Then she looked at her hands again. Whatever she was trying to decide in her head, she finally did and nodded to herself. "Promise something then?"

"Depends on what." I said, trying for flippancy on my tone, but I think that I failed when she looked at me with a hardened expression.

"Anything you see there, don't ever talk about it with anyone. Not even me." She asked.

I thought about that for a second, before nodding. "If that's what you want, I won't, but as I said, I have no idea if this will even work. If it does, I promise you that I'll never talk about what I'll see and what I won't." Then addressed both of them. "And I didn't tell you this before, but don't spread this to anyone outside the three of us. There's a saying about the abyss, right? Soul Dive is dangerous for me as well in part because of it."

"Sure. I'll not talk."

"On my name as the Heir of the Gremory Clan." The redhead seriously throws that around a lot. So much so that I'm liable to start doubting its honesty in fact.

I grimaced, but nodded. "Alright, let's try this then. First, fix your eyes in a point in space. Concentrate on your strongest energy. Relax. Breath in through the nose, breath out through the mouth... Again... Again... Relax..." When she was entering the trance state necessary for this I held both her shoulders, put my forehead to hers and looked into her violet eyes.

It was hard. No hard would be to put mildly. It was like trying to beat a wood nail into an iron anvil using a hammer made of jelly. This was practically impossible. How did Rin did this so easily without even needing to look into my eyes when she did it? The eyes are the doorway for Soul, and that's not romanticizing. It's the truth. I was tired just from trying to break the barrier of her consciousness, but when I finally thought I had managed, I was hit with a powerful blast of... something... from somewhere inside the girl and reeled backwards physically and fell down, blinking at the ceiling without really realizing where I was.

After what felt like a minute of this, I finally said. "Well... That was awkward..."

"What happened?" The redhead asked, and when I looked at the brunette she was still in the trance.

I shook my head. "A number of things could have. I have no idea which one." I said as I picked myself up from the floor. I snapped my fingers on the brunette's face after a moment and she was out of the trance.

She blinked a few times and then looked at me, then at Rias before turning back at me. "Did it work?"

"Either the wall around your Soul is _thicker_ than I imagined, is better guarded, you have some kind of protection against invasion, or the power of your Soul simply kicked me out, or the ambient prana broke my concentration, or maybe the-"

"Summing it up, it didn't." Rias answered dryly.

"Oh..." The brunette voice was genuinely disappointed by that.

I scowled at nothing in particular. "Yeah. It didn't work."

"Well, maybe after you draw that circle..." She began again.

"It's not so simple. To draw a circle like that I would need first to find all of the ingredients." I continued scowling at the wall.

"Ingredients?" Rias asked tilting her head to the side, confused.

"Like lead-based paint, for starters. That's not something sold in the market anymore. It's toxic. Not to mention all the other things, metals, essences..." I started to list them.

"What? Why?" Himejima this time, not understanding the need for so many things.

"I said it was a Craft didn't I?" I reminded them. "Its like a cooking recipe. You need to use the right ingredients to make good food. Sure you can substitute some, but it changes the taste of the end product. To create a circle like what I'll need to do this I'll need to start it from scratch, and to do that, I'll need the right materials."

I still don't think they understand how hard it is to be a Magus. It's not like their brand of magic. You don't simply gather energy and start manipulating it. Their brand of magic has more in common with the Einzberns' Alchemy now that I think about it. They simply throw as much prana as necessary to create the effect they want.

"There's a joke on the Clock Tower that says that the only thing that keeps more lineages from appearing aside from death of the practitioners is the debt the starting Magus racks up just so they can build their workshop."

"So these materials are expensive? Even here?" Rias asked.

I opened my mouth to answer but stopped, then frowned. "You know what? I have no idea, but I don't think that things like silver, gold and diamond dust are cheap here as well..." Then I grimaced. For better or worse, I would still need to find ways to get money enough to build the circle anyway sometime in the near future in order to create the beacon.

Himejima let out an impressed whistle. "Magi are big spenders, huh?"

"Not really. I could create a simple circle only with paint, blood, metal filings and runes but it would be so low quality that it wouldn't last a week, but for a workshop, something like that needs to be of quality. My father's circle that was inside his workshop was the same I continued to use for years after he passed away and it still worked. The paint had practically faded completely and you could barely see it when entering the place without looking for it, but once you positioned yourself inside it, you could feel the difference."

"Huh... Then why don't you just create a simple one?" Rias asked.

"Aside from the fact that I don't have anywhere to do it?" I asked.

She grimaced. It was obvious that she had forgotten about the fact that I didn't have a place for myself in this universe. "What about here on the clubroom?"

I was shaking my head before she even finished. "I can't use this place as I please, like you Devils. I have to actually ask permission to enter the school after hours." I reminded them. "And I can't teleport in, like you guys all seem to be able to do."

"What about the Shrine?" Himejima asked.

"Shrine? What Shrine?" I looked puzzled at the brunette.

"My Shrine. Where I live." She answered easily. "What about there?"

I grimaced again at that. "I still can't use a place like that as I please, and won't the priests throw a fit if I start scrawling on the floor?"

"Oh. Don't worry. The Shrine was abandoned sometime ago. I live there alone now." Then the corners of her mouth turned upwards slightly, and she had that glint in her eyes that I know that means trouble. "And you can come and go as you please."

I ignored the last part. Best for everyone involved, but the first part made me frown. Why was she living alone in a Shrine of all places? Did she not receive much Devil work like the others seem to? I decided not to think about that for now and thought on her proposal. Leaving aside the obvious nuances of what she mentioned with that last part, this place looked like a good one for me to try an impromptu circle, at least to see if I _could_ make one in this universe and discover if it would work.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to take her up on her offer of making it there. After all, she was the one who wanted me to find if she had or not the Magic Circuits. "You know," I said after pondering about the ramifications. "now that I think about it, it may be a good idea to try."

Her eyes widened for a second in surprise, before it returned to her usual serene expression. "If you think you can-"

"Are you busy right now?" I asked before she continued. "If you show me your place I can see if its possible or not."

She pulled back, stunned, then turned to Rias questioningly.

* * *

That is one broken down Shrine if I ever saw one. I don't think even the Ryuudou Temple was so run down after the Grail War. The place Himejima had taken to live in was apparently really used as a Shrine at some point during its existence but as the followers started to dwindle, so did the power of the deity enshrined there, and in the end there was nothing left anymore. It was just a broken down temple. Correction, a broken down collection of materials put together to resemble a temple.

When viewed from the front it was apparently still sturdy enough, and could be reused at any moment, but the moment one stepped inside, I had to take care not to put my weight on certain places, otherwise I would sink through the floorboard, the walls were falling apart and the rooms where she actually lived in, although in better condition than the rest, had black spots on the ceiling from obvious leaks on the roof tiles and I swear I saw termite patches in one of the pillars when we passed by.

"And why is that you live here again?" I had to ask. The place was so destroyed that even if I had come across it before, I wouldn't use. And I am homeless.

"What's so strange about a Shrine Maiden living in a Shrine?"

"When the Shrine is so obviously out of use that it doesn't receive any maintenance for years, and the Maiden in question wouldn't actually need to live here?"

She shook her head, as if explaining to me it would be pointless. "Come this way." She led me into an even further room inside the rundown temple. After passing several doors, we reached the room she was leading to, only for the door to jam and not open when she tried to pull it. When she used a little more force on it, it fell out of the rail completely and got stuck in an awkward angle.

"It wasn't supposed to do that, I'm assuming?" I asked the girl, trying to keep my tone as bland as possible.

She looked at me once, then out of nowhere ripped the door out with one simple flick of her wrist. These Devils act normal so much that I forget that they are actually strong enough to break bones of normal people just by grabbing on their arms too hard.

After settling the remains of the door aside, she signaled for me to enter the room. It was actually what I believe to have been the main hall of worship on the Shrine when it was still in use, but right now, a good portion of the roof was missing and the rest was in bad disrepair.

Seriously, if someone wanted to actually make this Shrine usable again, forget repairing. It would be easier to tear down the whole place and build it up again from the foundation.

"Can you do it here?" Came the nonchalant question. I shot her only a look and walked inside the room, feeling the place around. It didn't need to be so big, just for a simple Formalcraft makeshift circle, but since she asked...

"It'll do." I answered her in kind, and opened my schoolbag. Before leaving the school I pilfered- Er, borrowed some supplies from the janitor's closet. More specifically, a can with red paint still half full, a brush, every piece of scrap metal rolling around I could find, chalk and few meters of white string.

Opening the can, I placed it on the ground, I ground the chalk to powder and put it inside, then traced a rasp and began to fill the metal scraps, letting the metal fillings fall on the can, stirring every now and then. When the consistency was what I expected to see, I sliced my finger and let a few drops of my blood in it. Thanks to Avalon, I had to repeat that three times, to my annoyance.

Himejima was watching the process with interest. In the end she was the only one who came with me since Rias had to stay at school while the other Devils of her Peerage were out on contracts. I didn't know that business for them was booming so much. Which makes me return to the question, why is Himejima still living in this place?

Setting down the can I got the string, traced a nail and hammered it in a point where the center would be, tied the string to it and using it as compass, began to draw the circle. It was one slow process, and boring, even for a simple circle such as this one, so when Himejima started to ask questions about it, I was kind of glad.

"So, were lying when you said you didn't know Formalcraft?" She asked.

"No. Not really. This here, even if its part of Formalcraft is actually pretty minor. This for Formalcraft is in the same level of what two plus two is for mathematics."

"Oh, and you know two plus two then?" I somehow knew she had a smirk on her face, even with my back to her.

"Yes." I decided to ignore. "This type of circle is one of the basic things necessary in a workshop, alongside a workbench, tool walls, shelves and bookcases. Then from there you'll need the things you'll specialize on, and that can be pretty much anything."

"Such as?"

"Well, in the workshop back home I had an anvil and a forge powered by runes in a corner. Also some training dummies. My partner had jewelry boxes and every type of precious stones you can imagine, in bulk."

"Precious stones?"

"Every Magi specializes in something. Some, like me, overspecialize, almost to a crippling point, but generally a Magi studies their own style of Magecraft during their whole lives, and then passes on that research for their children along with the Family Crest, who in turn continue the lineage in the same way. That's one of the reasons that the oldest lineages are generally the most powerful ones. There always the exceptions, but that is the general rule."

I paused and licked my lips. One of the floorboards was loose and would get slightly out of alignment when my weight was on it, throwing the circle off by a few milimiters. I traced another nail and started hammering it in place.

Done with that I continued. "In her case, her lineage uses Precious Stones to store Prana. You see, rubies for instance, are terrible for creating Mystic Codes, but are great mana batteries. Depending on their quality they can store upwards of months worth of Prana a single Magi can produce during one day. And Rin would always finish her day storing all the prana she could on them."

"That sounds... useful, actually."

"Oh. It is. I'm actually only alive today because of one of those rubies." I commented lightly, but the girl started at that.

"What? Why?"

"Remember the scar on my chest? Where I said Gae Bolg had hit me?" I asked her, and when she nodded I continued. "It was at the beginning of the Grail War. I was stabbed by it and only survived it because Rin used one of the rubies that she had been storing prana for years on me."

"I see."

"Yeah. Thank the Root I didn't need a second dose of that." I grimaced at the memory. "Not for lack of the guy trying, though."

"You said that during this Grail War, it was common tactic for the enemy Servant to target Masters, right? Was it because of this?"

"Not really. You see, in my world, Magecraft is a secret guarded closely. No one not already in the know can know about it. If a uninitiated stumbles on it by accident, there two ways to deal with them. One, is if they are valuable for the Magus who they stumbled upon, is to be hypnotized and have their memories wiped or changed. Not generally used since memory manipulation is kind of difficult with Magecraft. With practice it can get to a decent enough level that its worth the risk of using it. The other is to simply kill the witness. And with all that, the Grail War itself was even more secretly guarded. Only the people participating in it could know about it, aside from the Observer and the Supervisor sent by the Mage Association and the Church respectively. At the time, Lancer, the Servant that attacked me, thought I was a bystander and attacked me immediately. And I can't even begrudge him because he was right."

"Really?" Her tone of voice was definitely not interested. It was something else, that I really don't want to think about right now, given the implications.

"Yes. At the time, I _was_ a bystander. I didn't know anything about the War, or about Servants or anything else really. I didn't even know about the Mage Association. My father, who should have explained those things to me, died before he could," Or would, in his case. I don't think Kiritsugu would have taught me anything aside from what he had already, unless I somehow managed to catch the attention of the Association by mistake. "and I had not even met the Second Owner of my city. Actually, he should have been the one to introduce himself to the Second Owner, but didn't..."

I shook my head. Kiritsugu was a fugitive at that point. No way would he go to the Second Owner and basically tell the Association that he was alive. Not to mention that he had taken part in the War that had killed the father of the new Second Owner at the time, Rin, who in turn was being trained and taken care of Kotomine. There was no way that he would go to her in that situation.

"Then if you were a bystander and was law to not let any witness to continue living, then why did she saved you?"

"To this day I don't really know, but I have my suspicions. At the time I was in the same school as her and only knew her in passing. She was like an idol around school, kinda like you and Rias are the Great Onee-samas of Kuoh, but in her case it was more of a standoffish thing. She had an aura of control to her that few people dared to even look at her in the eye at school, even some teachers."

"And this Rin is your ex-girlfriend, right?"

"Yeah. Did I say that before?" I asked confused. I don't think I had, but...

"No. Just connecting dots." The girl said with a impish tone in her voice. "So, she was in love with you, but you never approached her. When she saw you on your death bed, she used all the energy she stored in one of her rubies to revive the love of her life. Am I getting warm?"

"No. Getting cold actually." I answered, turning to her with a grin. I didn't even noticed that the girl was actually taking notes. If it was about the conversation or about the runes I was drawing, I don't know. "As I said, she never told me. But I suspect that it had more to do with Sakura than with herself."

"Sakura?"

"Sakura was..." I frowned, trying to think the best way to explain. "They were sisters, but Sakura had been sent to be adopted by another family because she had just as much potential as a Magi as Rin had, but since only one child per generation can bear the Family Crest, their father thought it would be a better service for Sakura if she was adopted into another lineage that had no heir at the time. But some things happened and they ended up resenting each other, at least outwardly, acting as if they knew each other only because of school, and such. It was... complicated."

"Humm..."

"Anyway, Sakura had a brother, Shinji. I only discovered that they were only brother and sister through adoption much later, but anyway. I met Shinji in middle school and made friends with him. During that time, I met Sakura and after another series of unpleasant events, where I had to defend her from Shinji's abuse she became the only other female friend I had at the time aside from Fuji-nee and another girl in the Archery Club."

"You were friends with a guy that abused his sister?"

"I was friend with a guy _until_ I discovered that he abused his sister." I corrected her. Shinji was a scumbag and I'm glad that he disappeared off the map after the Grail War.

"Oh, sorry." I waved it off.

"Anyway, at the time I didn't know that Sakura and Rin were sisters, but they certainly knew. Sakura... Well, there no other way to put it. She was in love with me, and Rin knew. I didn't. When Rin saw my body on the floor, she thought what would happen when Sakura discovered and saved me because of her."

She hummed again. "She was a Master in the War, right? How come she didn't know you were one too?"

"That's because at that exact point in time I wasn't one yet. I hadn't summoned my Servant. Heck, I didn't even know how or that I needed to. Or why."

"So she saved you just because of her sister." A pause. "Interesting..."

"Yeah. Not really. As I said, that's my self-serving take on the situation. For all I know, she could be going around saving people left and right at that point. She never really liked to talk about those days."

She became silent after that. I had finished the circle and began going around it, doing minor adjustments in some of the runes or retouching the paint in some other points. Then I entered the circle proper. It was like night and day. It was actually a little disconcerting, really. If I had to make a comparison would be like the difference between standing at sea level and then stepping through a portal that took me to the stratosphere. Change air pressure with magical pressure and you get the idea. I nodded to myself after standing there for a few seconds. It still had some ambient prana, but for a hasty scribbled circle like this, it was good enough. I stepped out, making sure not to step on the paint.

"Is it done?" The girl asked, looking around the floor.

"Yeah. Just need to wait for the paint to dry a little more." I sat down next to her, and she immediately got up and left the room. I looked at her back, puzzled for a moment, then shrugged.

Watching paint dry isn't the most compelling pastimes either, so I would welcome some more conversation in the meantime.

Himejima came back to the room with a tray in hand. Wordlessly she sat down where she was before, and handed a cup to me. "Thanks." She continued to smile until I took a sip of the tea and for some reason her smile strained when I said. "It has a nice fragrance."

"Thank you." She said with a strained tone that mirrored her smile. After almost five minutes of waiting, she must have come to the same conclusion I had earlier about watching the paint, because she asked. "You said that the guy tried again. Then the second time was because you were already a Master?"

"No. The second time was actually just a few hours after the first. But after fleeing to my workshop at home, I ended up summoning my Servant by complete accident in an effort to save myself from death."

"How?"

"I don't actually know. The ritual to summon a Servant is not really all that complicated. Only needs a Formalcraft circle that resonates with the Od of the user, a reagent for the Heroic Spirit that you want to summon and the will of the Master. There is a Circle created specifically for Summoning, but it isn't strictly necessary. A normal circle, even one scribbled in the ground with a stick can be enough. Of course, when summoned that way the ritual is considered incomplete and some skills a Servant has would take more mana than normal, but in a pinch is possible. It was how I actually managed to summon Saber in the end, using a circle my father had designed years before. Rin actually taught me the proper ritual to summon an Heroic Spirit later on but it takes an prohibitive amount of Prana to do it, and when an Heroic Spirit is summoned without the Command Seals or a goal that it can be negotiated with, the Servant generally kills the Master."

"But if it is so prohibitive, how come you did it accidentally? And what are these Command Seals?" I gotta hand it to the girl. She didn't even blink when I said a Servant could kill the Master.

"I managed to do it because I was chosen by the Grail as one of the Masters. During the summoning part, the Grail does all the heavy lifting, and any additional Prana the Master adds to the ritual goes directly to power up the Servant. In my case, my Od reserves were abysmal at best, couple that with the impromptu summon without ritual, and the Grail simply summoned my Servant at her base strength, without any of the power ups."

"Her?"

"Yeah. Saber, the Heroic Spirit that I summoned, was a girl." Calling Saber just a girl was pushing it though.

"Hummm... And the Command Seals?"

I pondered on that for a moment. "Think of it like this. You're going to call a warrior from the Throne of Heroes, in order to battle against other warriors, all for some magical trinket that can grant wishes. If the Heroic Spirit you summon isn't interested in any wish, he's either going to attack you immediately in order to be set free or first hear your reason to summon him and then attack you in order to be set free. The Command Seals ensured that the Heroic Spirit that was summoned had to obey the Master to a point. It was up to the Master to negotiate with him the obedience, though." A smile came to my face when I remembered the first discussions I had with the blonde haired King. At the time I was frantic not really understanding what that War meant. "In my case, Saber had a wish, so we only really had to negotiate how we were going to proceed in the War. We butted heads often and repeatedly from then on."

"You speak of this Saber with fondness. Were you in love with her or something?"

The smile that was on my face fell a little. "I don't really know, to be honest. At the time I'm certain that I at least felt some camaraderie with her, but that was to be expected, since she was my Servant. Nowadays, when I think about it, I can't really create a full picture of our bond, because while I knew everything about her, she hardly knew anything about me. It wasn't fair to be that way."

"How come you knew so much about her? Did she talk about it a lot."

I shook my head. "No. That was because of the Dream Cycle. You see, the bond between a Master and Servant is more than just what the names would imply. It closer than any friendship, any marriage, even closer than a Devil Pact where the Souls are open to each other. During the Dream Cycle, that is, when the Master is asleep, he or she dreams of the life of the Servant, seeing their memories that are etched in the Soul of the Heroic Spirit. And I saw a lot of her memories while we were bonded. Her life... It was beautiful. It had so much hardship, so much pain, so much blood, so much sadness but, in the end, she pressed on to lead her people. That made the good memories even more poignant, because of the way she lived in the dark times was the same that she lived during the happy ones. With her full might. I think that the saying that goes 'In times of peace prepare for war and in times of war prepare for peace' didn't exist in her time. In times of war she was ruthless. In times of peace she was happy. Simple as that."

Another pause in the conversation. Actually, wasn't just me talking most of the time? She was looking through her notes and when I was about to ask her about them when she fired another one. I didn't realized earlier, because I was so focused on drawing the circle, but this was looking more and more like an interview. "You said that you need a Reagent, right? How did you manage get one in that situation."

I had to grimace at that question. Avalon was always within me. Never would I be able to summon any other Heroic Spirit besides Saber because of it, even if I had another reagent. "I'm sorry, but that's one secret that I can't tell anyone. Let's just say that Saber is the only one who would ever be summoned if I ever performed the ritual." Then in order to not let her get another word in edgewise, I got up and entered the circle again, signaled with my hand and told her. "Come."

She was about to protest, but didn't in the end and got up on her own.

"Why were you taking notes?" I asked. It wouldn't really matter once I was out of this universe, but now that I payed attention, it began to unsettled me a little.

"Rias asked." She confessed without missing a beat. "If you taught me anything it was for me to pass down to her. Since I have no idea what about you said just now will come up again I got afraid that I would forget something and started taking notes of it. And also..." she trailed off, looking slightly ashamed. That was a look I didn't see that often on her. I waited for her until she continued. "The story of your life is actually quite interesting."

"Interesting?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Taking out the parts about magic, its material right out of a morning time drama." She grinned at me, still somewhat red in the face. I have no idea what to say to that.

Well, it was not like I told her anything that was any major secret. For all she knew I could have fabricated the whole story. And if the thought that it was some kind of drama, well, one less worry. A lie based on facts already per-established can become more convincing than the complete truth. "I see. But as I asked earlier, tell her that nothing I said should be passed around. It really can kill you, some of the things I comment offhand sometimes are that dangerous."

She nodded. "No problem."

"Now come here." I extended my hand and she took it. One step into the circle and the effect on the girl was instantaneous. She practically fell into my arms. If it wasn't for the effect of it, I would have thought that maybe she was trying another trick on me, but the way she was breathing hard, as if tired from just being inside it, told me that wasn't the case. "Are you alright?"

She didn't answer for almost a minute, and I was starting to get nervous. When she finally did, her voice was strained with exertion. "It's... I don't know how to describe this. I feel my body like normal, but it seems heavier, its like its hard to breathe but I can breathe normally when I think about it. Everything is..."

"Your existence is centered around magic." I posited for her. "You must be unconsciously using mana from the ambient to reinforce your body without meaning to all the time. Otherwise I don't think that you Devils could stay up until late at night doing jobs and still go to school during the day without showing some type of strain. Now your body is trying to readjust for the environment inside the circle that has less mana."

She nodded, but didn't confirm or deny my assessment.

"If you think its too much, its better if you leave. I have no idea what will happen if you stay inside for too long. It can be just like I said, and you just need to readjust, or it could really be harmful." Wish I had thought of this earlier. She lived her whole life in a prana rich environment. Suddenly being deprived of it was tantamount to put her on the gallows with the noose suddenly tightening.

"No." She shook her head lightly. "I'm okay. I think it was just the sudden difference. I'll adapt to it eventually."

I grimaced. Eventually could mean in a minute, in a year, in a decade or even longer. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure. Don't worry about me. This isn't..." She cut herself off there, making me frown again.

"Well, okay then." I relented in the end. I'm the last person who should talk about others when taking risks with their own bodies. "Kneel here then, in the middle."

She did just so. "Are you going to hypnotize me again?" Her smile wasn't actually teasing this time, but somewhat more fearful.

"It's not an actual hypnosis. It's just to induce a Trance state while your body is relaxed to make it easier for me to Soul Dive." I told her honestly. I knelt in front of her and began again. "Concentrate on your essence of power, same as before. Fix your eyes in a point in space. Breath in through your nose, breath out through your mouth. Again. Relax. Again... Again... Again..." Both hands on her shoulders and my forehead to hers.

It was easier this time, compared to the first, but still hard. Either her consciousnesses was really more closed than normal or, maybe because she was a Devil, I can't say for sure. After hitting the wall several times I finally managed to breach it, and again was washed by that powerful energy that was inside her Soulscape. It almost made me pull back again, but I was prepared this time, and found purchase on the place and continued going.

Her Soulscape was completely different from Rias'. While Rias was darkness with some spotlights, hers was almost the polar opposite. There was light everywhere, and few dark spots, concealing things that I knew not to look at. These are probably the secrets that she has and don't want others to know. I pulled myself away from those, no point in trying to see them.

The construct that my consciousness created this time was completed faster than before, as it was more simple. Maybe because we were physically inside a Shrine, the construct resembled one. One impossibly long _corridor_ after the front _door_ with _doors_ left and right, up and down. I _landed_ at the entrance and began to _follow_ the _flow_ of power that I felt, it took me getting near the source to realize that it was actually what passes for Holy power in this world.

It didn't made any sense. How can a Devil have so much Holy inside herself? I knew she was a Shrine Maiden, but if she had so much Holy power, then why...

Then it hit me. Of course she couldn't use _because_ she was a Devil. It would hurt herself if she tried, I think. Getting to the source was difficult. The construct my consciousnesses made for me to navigate her Soul, the Shrine corridor, was breaking apart near a void of pure light, and didn't let me see exactly what I was looking at. I stopped at that point. If I continued going, I didn't know if I could go back to the construct. The barrier was preventing my consciousness to define shape of her Soul from this point onward, but the feeling from it was actually kind of inviting. It took me some doing and concentration, but when I finally managed to pass that barrier, there it was, the shapeless source of her power. It was a warm light, that could be either inviting or foreboding in a snap of fingers, but I decided to leave that alone in favor of her Magic Circuits that were just behind that amorphous blob. I had to smile at the _image_. She had nineteen of them Circuits. All of better quality than Rias' had.

Using a _burst_ of _Od_ , I connected her Circuits but didn't trigger them. The first time she manages to trigger her Circuits on her own it'll probably leave her reeling. It would be better if I was on hand when that happened to make sure she didn't hurt herself. I _turned back_ to follow the same _path_ that I used to get to the Circuits back to the construct, but instead got a facefull of one of her memories instead. It was a strong and beautiful memory. A woman that I could guess should be her mother was smiling gently at her, while she was saying something to her. I tried to reel myself away from it. It had nothing to do with what I was doing here, but even after pulling myself out of that memory, I found myself in another one.

That's one of the problems I had with Soul Diving this way. You could easily get lost inside the Soul of another. The image I saw now was of the same woman, with her eyes open but unseeing, with her arm outstretched in Himejima's direction. The image was murky and the emotion from it was very real. Grief and Desperation. And I felt it like I was her. Like I had seen my own mother die in front of me.

It was too much and I forced myself out of that memory, only to fall in another one. She would be about ten or eleven years old, scavenging for food on trashcans much like I did at the beginning of my stay in this world. Eating things that weren't meant for consumption anymore, just so her body could have some sustenance. Misery and sorrow tinted this memory.

Another memory, fleeing scared of a mob in a rural road. A forest on one side and a field of rice in the other. They were throwing literal sticks and stones at her, when out of nowhere, black feathered wings formed behind her back and she escaped the mob through the air. I _inhaled_ sharply at that image. I didn't know that Himejima was a Fallen. Either that or some type of Youkai that had black wings also. A Tengu maybe? Or was there another type of mythical being with black feathered wings that existed in this world?

While I was thinking on that, the memory changed again, showing her battered and with a leg clearly broken, limping up the side of a mountain on a trail. Fear, hunger and cold. She came across a cavern and let her body dive inside it. The other occupant of the cave took exception at her sudden appearance and tried to attack her. The eagle had no chance. There wasn't fear on her face anymore. Just wild hunger on looking at what others would think was a threat to their lives as the possible meal. Determination. She latched on the claw that the bird attacked her with, successfully mangling her arm, but her other hand attached itself on the animal and using all the weight of her tiny body she managed to break the bird's neck. Tearing into it immediately, using her own hand and teeth to tear apart the flesh and eat it.

Another. Performing a ritual in a house of someone else. Her clothes were pristine again as she chanted with a paper seal between her hands. A purifying ritual in return for a single meal from the family that had accepted her proposal when she knocked on their door. The warm feeling of family in that house hurt her more than she would have imagined.

Walking on a road during a thunderstorm during a dark night, her clothes and hair matted to her body, her feet calloused and cold. Her tiny body pressed on to reach the light she saw in the distance. Determination to keep on living.

Being flung against a wall by a man in a dark alley. He forcing her down on the dank floor, while ripping her haori open. The pain of the blow wasn't as much as the terror of what was about to happen, and she unleashed her lightning for the first time, involuntarily. Her scream was as much about her fear as was about the charred corpse of the man she just killed.

Walking in a street and realizing that people were giving her a wide berth and scornful looks. Disheartenment with the fate the world seemed intent on putting her through.

Fear. Her own relatives coming to kill her, because of her heritage, because of who her father was. Disgust with them.

On and on and on. Memory after memory after memory. They all had the same feelings attached to them, overwhelmingly. Grief. Despair. Misery. Pain. Sorrow. Anguish. Disheartenment. Memory after memory, etched on her Soul. The images that tainted such a beautiful Soul, were all dark like that and I was reeling from them, because I felt them as they were my own.

All of a sudden I realized that I had returned to my own consciousnesses and that I wasn't seeing anything. My face felt wet, and was pressed against two soft things. I inhaled sharply at that, and tried to pull my head back, only to realize that I was being held on to someone's bosom and was being embraced by another person on my back.

It took me a minute to come back completely to my senses, and to be allowed pull back my body from where I was. To my surprise it was almost dark already, and the room was bathed in the crimson rays from the sunset coming from the broken windows and ceiling. And we weren't alone anymore either. Rias and Asia were with us inside the room. Rias had knelt beside the two of us and was hugging both of us and, for some reason, it was the brunette that had pulled my head to her chest.

I looked lost at the other two for a moment, then when I finally fixed my gaze on the Shrine Maiden's eyes was that wave of feelings hit me again, those same emotions I felt inside her Soul and I involuntarily began to tear up again. "I'm sorry." I said, but it came out broken. I couldn't really understand or explain why. Here was another life that I couldn't protect. Couldn't save. The logical part of me insisted that I wouldn't even know about her if it wasn't for a series of events that made me become stranded in this universe, but the sorrow I felt at the moment was too overpowering for me to feel anything else, so I repeated. "I'm sorry."

If she thought that I was apologizing for looking at her memories or for what happened to her, I don't know, but she just smiled at me. It was the same smile she always wore on her face, but now that I saw all that inside her Soul, I could feel how much of this smile was faked, how much of it was a mask to cover her broken heart.

"I'm sorry." I said a third time and slumped. I blacked out after that.

And dreamed. About violence, about dread, about fear. About what happened to a poor girl who couldn't even know what it meant to be alive yet had to go through. All because of her heritage, all because of preconceptions and prejudices, all because she wanted to keep on living, and was being denied by the bloodline she was born to. I'll probably break my promise with her at some point, because there's no way I can look at her again without remembering all of that.

* * *

When I woke up again I was still on the same place, inside the circle in the old, abandoned Shrine, with a weight on my chest, but my head was leaning on something soft. When I opened my eyes, I saw that the soft things I was lying on was Himejima's thighs and her long black her was pooled around my face while she had her head down, sleeping probably uncomfortably in that position.

I pulled a hand up, to the side of the brunette's face, and moved a flock of her hair behind her ear, before cupping the side of her face, and whispering. "Himejima." Then more forcefully. "Himejima."

The girl's eyes fluttered open, like she hadn't been sleeping at all. She looked down at me then without moving from the position she was, she pulled my hair to the side on the forehead. "Akeno. Call me Akeno from now on, okay?" She said with a small sad smile on her face.

I nodded at that. What do you say in situation like this? It was hard for me to even put into words what I saw and felt during the Dive. I was pure and raw emotion. Not at all like watching a movie, like Rin had described a Soul Dive before. Or like the Dream Cycle I experienced during the Grail war. The emotion was overpowering and genuine, not faked by actors or imagined second hand through the Dream. It didn't even compare.

I was half intending to break my promise right then, but then the girl surprised me, putting a finger to my lips. "Ssshhh. You'll wake Asia-chan."

It was only then that I looked down and saw that Asia was the weight I felt on my chest. From my position I could only see the top of the blonde's head, but from the rhythmic way she was breathing, I could see that the girl was still sleeping. I smiled at the sight, before looking again at the brunette. "Humm... What do we do in a situation like this?"

Her sad smile took on a glint of wickedness that I came to expect from her and it almost comforted me, if it wasn't for what that row of teeth meant in the first place. "Oh, I can think of a few things..." She breathed out.

"Ermm... Himejima. I-"

I was cut off again when she put a finger on my lips and her mouth directly in my ear while breathing out. "A-ke-no." Pronouncing every syllable as sensuously as possible in the situation.

I gulped, hard. After a moment I could feel that she was forcing herself not to make a noise while she giggled. "A-Akeno, a few questions, please?"

She moved her head, just enough to make her breasts cover my vision of her face, while she leaned forward. "Sure, anything you want. I can even be an 'M', depending on the situation."

"What?!" I said a little louder than I meant to. "No, not that. What time is it?"

"Oh..." She's either a great artist or the disapointment in her voice was very real. I don't know which would be worse. "Let's see, about eleven, I think?"

"I see." She looked down at me again, and her face ended up hidden by the position of the moonlight and her hair falling again. I wanted to talk about her life, all the hardships she passed through, all the problems that came because of her heritage. I wanted to say that everything was going to be okay, that she could count on me for it. Then I realized that if I did that, it would only bring back memories that are buried in her soulscape for a reason, and that she was already doing okay, with Rias and the Gremorys. Not to mention that I may not be here for much time in the end. So I changed my line before it came out of my lips and said. "Congratulations."

Her head shot back and the smirk one her face turned into a confused look. "What?"

"You have nineteen Circuits, all active." I smiled at the girl, who must have forgotten that the whole reason for this experiment was to try and find and activate her Magic Circuits. "Ten more than Rias has, and of better quality too."

Her smile returned and it was something different. Not joyous, but more relaxed and more tender. "Thank you, Shirou."

I shook my head at her. "No, don't thank me yet. I only connected them. You still need to learn how to trigger them."

She scrunched her face. "And how do you do it?"

I just gave her a knowing grin. "I'll teach you the techniques I used when I was beginning, just so you can get acclimatized later, okay?"

She nodded. "Thank you."

I smiled at her, and then turned my head down again in the direction of the form of the sleeping Sister. "Now, let's get up, so we can go home."

I thought that she would try another prank when I said that, but she didn't. She just leaned her body backwards to give me space to try and move Asia from my chest. The blonde is one heavy sleeper, and didn't woke up, even after I sat upright and put her head on my legs.

"What happened in the end?" I heard Akeno's voice from behind me, moments before she embraced me. "You were bawling like a baby."

I grimaced. Either she was inciting me into breaking my promise with her or she genuinely didn't understand what it means to relive memories etched into the Soul. In the end I decided to sidestep the whole issue. "I don't remember much. One moment I was in the Soul Dive, the next I was in your chest, then the next I was in between your thighs." I paused. "And by the Root, does that sentence looks wrong when taken out of context."

She giggled against me, then embraced a little harder and whispered in my ear. "Thank you, Shirou." Then pulled back.

I grinned despite myself, then put both my arms under the former Sister and moved her to the side. Only now I realized that we weren't the only three in the room. Rias was sitting outside the circle, with her head down on the notes that Hime- that Akeno had made earlier, but hadn't reacted to our conversation so far.

When Akeno didn't move from her position, I offered a hand for her to get up. She took it, but stumbled once she tried to put her weight on her legs, falling into my chest in the process.

"Sorry." We both said at the same time. I did because her legs were in that state probably because of me and she probably because of the stumble itself.

"A Shrine Maiden that can't even sit seiza for long periods of time." She said admonishing herself. "I'm a disgrace as a role model for other Maidens aren't I." Her tone tried for levity but her smile was strained and made her realize that it wouldn't really work on me.

"No. Not a disgrace. You just didn't reach the point where you'll be the role model, that's all." I said to her, still holding her in that position. Her head was still on my chest, when she swivelled it up to look at my face. "You're just a seventeen, eighteen year old girl." My tone turned warm to reassure her. "You still have much to live for before turning into a role model."

She blushed at that and looked down again, but didn't leave her position. "Sometimes, it's easy to forget that you are older than all of us."

I chuckled at that. "Yeah. Sometimes I too forget that." Then waited for a moment before letting her go, and she too let go the shirt and sleeve she was clinging to.

"You must have all kinds of experience with women then." Later I would realize that she was trying to get a jab in, but at that moment, the only thing that came to mind was...

I sighed, depressed. "In my whole life, I only ever been with three girls." I said after a moment. "And of the three I only had any intimacy with two, and even then only one of the two..." I stopped there, not sure if I should continue.

She pulled back and looked at me in the face, trying to judge my honesty. I wasn't even looking at her, but at the moon out of the night sky through the hole in the ceiling.

"The first one I never had any intimacy with, the second we had a relationship for a while and the third..." I pulled my head back down, looking straight ahead into the darkness. "The third was more because of a medical condition than because of love." I smiled without cheer. Saber I didn't even realized that I maybe had loved until after Caster had stolen her from me, Rin ended up being a case of drifting apart and Sakura... I'm sure Sakura loves me to this day, but I knew she understood that I would probably never love her back. Not in the way she wanted anyway.

"That's..." Akeno began then stopped. "That's hard to make fun of." She frowned, and her confession brought a small cheer to my mood, even if short lived. "I thought that if you loved someone, than everything would be alright in the end."

I chuckled bitterly, but not really getting depressed with her naivety. "Sometimes love isn't enough. Sometimes people drift apart." I put a hand beside her face and traced a thumb throw her cheek. "Not everyone gets to live with their loved ones forever. Sometimes things happen that make that the best solution is to simply not be around them anymore." I have no idea what I should do with all the emotions that I basically stole from her Soul, but at least some hints I should be allowed to drop, right? I promised her I wouldn't talk about her heritage, but that didn't mean I couldn't at least try to help her.

She didn't get to answer me because in the next moment a rumble that I hadn't heard in weeks rocked the room. I looked down and a very unhappy looking Asia was still sleeping but her face clearly told what her body was complaining about.

I had to laugh at that. Even Rias jumped from her position. I thought she was reading the contents of Akeno's notebook, but in fact the redhead was sleeping in that position.

* * *

After trying and failing to convince Asia that I was okay and could carry her home, here I was walking in the direction of the Nekomatas house, only now remembering that she would be coming today with the offer to pay for my services. For reasons that I can't seem to compute, Akeno and Rias were coming with me too. And the two great Onee-samas of Kuoh weren't looking so great at the moment.

Rias hair was frazzled, even after she spent the whole time from the entrance of the Shrine to the front gate combing it, it was still not really presentable on the level she was accostumed to be seen. Akeno was holding her skirt pulling it down every few steps, I don't know why and am affraid to ask.

Like I said, problem with girls you can't solve? Ignore it and hope it blows over and not in your face.

I finally got home and still didn't understand why they were coming with me. They only said something about their pride. I shaked my head when I entered the house and had to forget about all of that as I was greeted by the sight of three Nekomatas lying on the tatami mats around the living room while a chorus of _nya-nya-nya_ rang all around.

I almost thought in going back and checking the nameplate, then realized that even if I did, there was no nameplate in this house, and even if it did, it wouldn't be mine. I walked inside the room, and once again took in the sight of the older Nekomata, that had the obi on her yukata slighly loose, leaving her neckline more exposed than normal, while she rolled around the floor play-fighting with her two daughters.

I coughed once on my hand and when they finally noticed me, I said. "Good evening, Marlianna-san. Nirlianna. Lirnianna."

"A~ah~~ Shi-chan~~ Good evening. Nya~~" The woman tried to bow from her position but as she was half on her side with one hand over the catgirl with red hair while her leg was tripping the blunette, it was actually an exercise in futility.

A moment and a loud thump later, the girls chimed simultaneously. "Evening~"

"Ah, Ria-tan, Ake-tan, Asia-chan~ Good evening~~" The woman greeted my three companions who until that moment were watching the scene with the same morbid curiosity that I was.

The three returned the greeting almost simultaneously as well, looking more bewildered than I did.

"Kitties~, I have to talk with Shi-chan now~, so behave, alright~?" The woman said to the girls, but the _nya-nya_ chorus didn't stop nor did the play bites they were attacking each other and their mother with. Out of nowhere the whole atmosphere around the older woman changed and she said again. "Behave until I finish my talk with Emiya-dono."

The effect was instantaneous, the chorus stopped, the girls sat seiza at either side of their mother, who somehow in the middle of it had her obi refastened and her yukata properly readjusted. I have no idea how she did that. I could only blink in confusion as even the two catgirls, whose clothes were disheveled before, now were prim and proper again.

I chalked up to another mystery of this universe and sat in front of her. No way I'm figuring that one out. She pulled a roll of paper from the sleeve of her yukata and handed it to me. "Here's our proposal for your services, Emiya-dono."

I caught the roll, thanking her before unfurling the thing. I almost thought it was a joke because the thing kept unrolling and unrolling until it hit the wall on the far side, not completely unrolled yet. It got worse when I started reading it. It was a list of houses, establishments, numbers of bank accounts with values attached, numbers of shares in multinationals... On and on and on. My eyes bulged at the list and I had to look back at the woman and ask. "So..." I coughed to clear my throat that somehow got closed during the whole process of reading a tenth of the list. "I need to pick something from this list as payment then?"

"No." The woman answered impassive. "That's all yours. If it is not enough then if you could make a counteroffer, I can take to the Elders."

Not enough? Not enough?! By Zelretch's fake beard, are these Youkai swimming in money or something? Where the hell did they even find ways to gather so much money. The disbelief must have be written all over my face because the woman pulled another paper roll from her sleeve.

"Also, we have another proposal for you, Emiya-dono." She handed me the other roll of paper.

I took it, and thankfully this one didn't unfurl to the ends of the room, just in a normal sized paper form.

"With the new additions to our Clan, some of the girls might need adjustments during the coming months and years, so we would like to hire your services to be available to us if there are something they need." She started explaining what was written on the paper. "Some of them might be better suited to live among humans than among the Youkai, and since you are a human and has some association with Devils of more than one Clan, you would be suited to be their caretaker if the need arises."

I looked at the thing. It was basically a contract for me to become a caretaker for the Devils who were under the Youkai care, but only if they needed the help. They would stay with the Youkai and only if they needed to readjust to society again, they would stay with me. In the meantime, I would receive wages from the Nekomatas, in the range of-

"I'm sorry, but I can't accept this." I said without continuing reading.

The woman looked dispirited when I said that. "That's unfortunate. We'll look for someone else to-"

"No, what I can't accept is the salary that you are offering me." I cut her off. "It's-"

"I'm sure we can negotiate a better stipend in this case, Emiya-dono." The woman said without noticing, or completely ignoring my disbelief.

"Better stipend? As in more than this?!" I asked increduously.

"Well... Yes..." The woman finally noticed that something was wrong with me, and I hung my head.

"Look, let's do it like this." There's no way that I'm going to talk them down in offering me something for this work, so I may as well take what I think would be enough. "Any of the Devils or Youkai that need helping in readjusting to society are welcome, but I will not receive any salary from you for this. The Devils themselves will need to pay for their stay. I don't know until when I'll be available to continue helping you, so I can't promise anything so long term. And from this list here," I got the other list. "I'll keep only this house that I was already living in, and this bank account that ammounts to what I would normally make in three years." In my world, not here, I added in my mind. And this account was the one with the lowest amounts of money too. "I don't want for you to feel offended by me not taking all the other assets that were offered, but they are simply too much for a simple guy like me."

The catwoman studied my expression. It took only a few seconds, but I was starting to feel very lightheaded. "Very well. If that's what you wish for, we won't be making any counteroffers for that proposal. We accept those terms." She looked slightly different after that. I have no idea if it was hurt or proud, but there was definitely a difference in her.

"Thank you, Marlianna-san."

"I'll send the servants to retrieve the altar from the bedroom and by tomorrow afternoon that account and this house will be transfered to your name." She stated without much inflection on her voice.

"The altar, it doesn't need to be removed. If at some point you'll be sending people my way, it would be easier if it still here, so I think the best would be only to move it to another place, that isn't inside the house." I proposed to the catwoman.

"That's an acceptable compromise. I'll have the servants build a Shrine outside and the altar will be placed there. I trust you to keep it clean during the period that it isn't in use?"

"No problem with that." Then it hit me. "Just another thing. Your servants will build this Shrine tomorrow?"

"Yes, the earliest the better."

"Humm... Coud they build a shed as well?"

She looked at me quizzically. "They could, but I don't see the need for such."

"Ah... It's..." I gulped down a lump of air. "It's actually for me." I tried to smile at that. "I'll even pay them if that's the problem."

"Oh, no it is not a problem. I just didn't imagined that you wanted such a place for yourself."

I waved off. "It's okay. I need a place that isn't inside the house to create a..." Then paused, grimacing. "Anyway, I just needed a place separated from the house to conduct my exercises and experiments."

"Very well." She retrieved both rolls of paper, and with a flick of her wrist, the longer one rolled itself up perfectly. How these people do these things? "With this I believe we are in accord about the recompense, correct?"

"Yes. That's correct."

She bowed again. "It was a pleasure doing bussiness with you, Emiya-dono."

"The pleasure was all mine, Marlianna-san." I bowed back to her, then got up. "Now, if there isn't anything else, I need to make something for my sister to eat otherwise her stomach is liable to scare the neighbors."

"No problem~ Nya~" The airhead was back. Seriously, her switches have no tell on them, the atmosphere around her just changes out of the blue.

"Would you like to eat with us?" I offered.

Now that business were concluded, she and the other two catgirls were back to sprawling around the floor. Spontaineity is one thing, but these three acted like they owned the place, which, come to think about it, they did. You know what, forget it. Not gonna even try and figure them out. At least Koneko is easy to deal with. Just keep the food coming and she's happy.

"If you don't mind us eating with you~ We were waiting for so long that my kitties are almost eating their own fur~" The woman said, and now that I saw, her Obi was loose again. Was that a illusion spell? Maybe the same way she makes her ears and tail disappear?

Before I let my pondering get in the way, I smiled at the woman. "Ah, sure, no problem." And started to the kitchen then stopped at the door. A nagging feeling pulling me back, because it was something that I shouldn't forget in this case. "Just to make sure, how much do you guys eat? I don't want to offend you or anything, but Koneko eats alone in a single meal what Asia and me eat during a whole day."

"Ah~~ Koneko-chan~~ How was she after the training camp?~~ Some of the things I taught her were pretty wild~~" The woman asked, then added. "Ah~ And don't worry we eat only a normal portion~"

"I see. I honestly couldn't tell the difference with Koneko but maybe you girls saw anything?" I said looking at the trio from the Occult Research Club. They were tightlipped until now. "You can converse amongst yourselves for now. I'll be right back."

I left the room to the kitchen in order to prepare what in the end was a midnight snack. There are six hungry women in my living room. Five Devils and one Youkai. And I was the cook.

There's a joke here somewhere, I think.

* * *

After the meal was over and the three Nekomatas said their goodbyes, I was sitting at the low table of the dining room, while Asia did the dishes with Rias. I have no idea why, but both Rias and Akeno looked more defeated now than when they came into the house.

Did something happen when they were talking with the Youkai?

At least it gave me time to broach a subject with Akeno. When she said that she lived at that Shrine I was sure that she was kidding, because the way Rias acted with her subordinates, there's no way that she would let Akeno live in a dump like that for no reason, unless the brunette herself asked for it.

She was sitting at the table with me, keeping me company while siping her own cup of aftermeal tea. The same face as always, but with all those memories still fresh in my mind, I simply couldn't let it go. I couldn't let this girl continue to live there.

With all the rooms she showed me there, there wasn't actually one that I could say that was _her_ room. I know that I'm frugal, but in her case it was like she was punishing herself for some reason. If there was some spiritual reason for her to live there, then maybe I could let go as well, but the leylines that crossed the grounds were weak compared to others places in town. Heck, even this house had leylines stronger than the ones at her Shrine. Probably the reason the Senri Clan bought the land in the first place.

But I had promised her not to talk about anything that I saw during the Dive. I grimaced at the images when they came again to the forefront of my mind. Her life had too many hardships at too young an age. There was no need for her to continue there.

I was brought out of the loop my mind was going through when I heard a giggle coming from the other side of the table. I raised an eyebrow at her, confused by the reaction, and she giggled again. "What?" I asked. Voice harder than I intended, but the point came across nonetheless.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing." She hid her mouth with her left hand. "It's just that your keep making faces all the time that I couldn't help it."

I stared at her blankly until the moment Asia and Rias came back to the room. Rias took one look at Akeno, then at me, then nodded to herself and sat at the corner, with both elbows on the table while watching our interaction as if it was a show. Asia on the other hand sat beside me, but kept launching glances from one to the other, confused.

Finally I gave up trying to understand the girl and turned to the Sister. "I know its late, but can you draw a bath for yourself tonight, Asia?"

She looked at me blankly for a moment, before pouting and mumbling. "I'm not a little kid, Onii-chan."

I patted her head. "I know, I know. You're not." Her face clearly said that she didn't believe a word I just said. "Anyway, can you do it for you, Akeno and Rias?"

The two girls who were suddenly addressed had bewildered looks when they realized what I was implying. "Sure, I'll do it." The blonde said, ignoring the silent byplay.

"Good. Can you guys help her?" I asked the girls, then back to Asia before they answered. "There should robes on the closet in your room that are fit for them."

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" The redhead finally said. "Why are we going to take a bath here?"

I cocked my head to the side. "Because you two are sleeping here tonight." Before she could get a word in, I continued. "No way I'm letting you guys go home at this hour. I don't care if you are Devils, and the night is your playground. You are not leaving this house tonight, and that's final." I said getting up. "Also, I need someone to make company to Asia while I go out. There are some things that need to be done and it can't wait."

And again without letting them say anything I left the house. I needed to sort out my thoughts on what to do and if leaving my new house to three Devils was necessary then so be it. While thinking about everything that happened today, unsurprinsingly my thoughts kept coming back to my little adventure on Akeno's soulscape. I was also not surprised when my feet ended up carrying me to her Shrine.

At night it was an ominous place. It didn't even had electricity and for all that she was a Devil, she was still a girl, one that had killed someone by accident during the first time some unlucky pervert tried to force himself on her. I didn't see her memories after she was older. Only when she was at that age, either because I was pulled out of the Soul Dive by her suddenly been free of the trance or maybe there weren't really memories etched in her Soul as strong as those. The ones that I saw were the ones that I had to continue replaying in my mind.

I invaded the place, looking around for where it would be her living quarters. After searching for almost five minutes I came across something that could be it. It had a couch older than myself, I think. It also had a burner with some pans in the corner and her futon laid out in the other. After a continuing the search, there was really nothing else. The little closet placed beside the futon was really the only thing that was well maintained.

I frowned at that image and when realized that my body was already acting, I had already started to pack up her things. Apparently the decision that was made by my body was agreed upon by my heart and both forgot to inform my brain of it.

When I got back to the house, for some reason I couldn't find any of the occupants anywhere I looked. I was about to knock on the door for the bathroom, but though better of it. No need to open myself to a prank from the two older girls.

Putting down everything that I had carried inside what in the end would turn out to be the guest room, between mine and Asia's, I began to unpack the things and line them up in the closets when finally the girls came out of the bath. Asia was visibly dizzy and the other two were redfaced as well. "Why did you guys took such a long bath?"

Rias was the one to answer. "We didn't take so long in the actual bath. It took some time to draw it. There was no hot water."

"Oh." I answered without stopping what I was doing. "I need to take a look at the pipes sometime soon then."

She nodded then the brunette that was beside her tilted her head. "Since when did you have so many hakamas, Shirou?"

"I don't. You do." I answered truthfully for the girl, and continued to set them up inside the closet. "And really, making me put your things away is just beyond rude."

"My things?" She asked confused, and knelt down behind me. Then out of nowhere she slapped the back of my head, hard. "What are you doing with my stuff? What is it doing it here?"

After rubbing the back of my head for a second, I got up from where I had knelt down and loomed over the girl. "I'm putting your stuff in your closet. Do you have any idea how hard it was to carry all these things by myself? Or to gather all these things in the dark? There's no lights working on that place, and I can only Reinforce my eyes so much."

She looked back up at me angryly. "What I mean why is that my things are here instead of my house?"

"Your house? Your house is going to be demolished tomorrow." I answered her, copying the same angry tone. That took the wind out of her sails, and she became confused.

"What!?" She turned to Rias who looked just as clueless. "Why?"

"Because I'm going to tear that place down, plank for plank if I have to." I answered her dutifully. "I don't know if you have some reason to want to live in that place. I have no idea what it is, and I don't really care, but you're not going back there while it's a gust of wind away from falling in your head."

She continue to eye me stunned for a moment, but reeled back in, her voice getting more louder. "Who do you think you are to be acting like that?"

"I'm the guy who'll take care of you from now on. And the guy who'll rebuild the Root be damned Shrine if I have to, just to make sure you don't end up buried in wood and shingles." I continued, my own voice getting louder to match hers. Rias actually stepped back and out of the room, and I saw that Asia was hiding behind her.

"You are not my-" Before she continued I cut her off.

"I'll be your brother if you want to," I said, taking a step forward. "I'll be your father if you want to," another step forward and she stepped back this time. "I'll be your lover, your guardian, your uncle, your protector." Another step forward and she was with her back against the wall and I was looking down at her. "Just as long as I can keep you out of that place long enough for it to be fixed in a manner that is suitable for someone to actually live in it!" I finished breathing hard. I'm sure my face was red with all the blood that got up to my head.

I was being forceful with this, yes. Absolutely. I didn't take her feelings into account when I made this decision. But I'll continue to bear it down on her until she gives in and stops trying to hurt herself indirectly by living in what amounted to a campsite inside a Shrine falling by the seams.

I looked down at her wide eyes, face still red with anger and from the bath as well, and when she didn't say anything else, I turned my back and sat back down, continuing what I was doing.

After more than a minute of silence, I felt someone move behind me and kneel down and a pair of arms embrace me. "So..." Her tone was watery even if she was trying for flippancy. "Do I need to call you Onii-sama now too?"

I snorted despite my earlier mood and simply continued to pile things inside the closet.

* * *

I woke up the next morning at the same time as always. Years of waking up early, first for training in Magecraft, then by either Sakura or Fuji-nee, then to make sure Rin wouldn't spend her whole day lazing, my body became used to get up always at the same time everyday. I was about to go to the bathroom to refresh myself, when I passed through the guest room, that would be Akeno's room from now on.

Two things caught my attention immediately. One it was open. Two it was empty. No futons on the tatami mat, no sign of anyone having slept there, the curtains on the windows were still drawn close. Exactly as it was when I had gone to bed.

Feeling my blood boil again, thinking that the girl had fled after all I said yesterday, I took the steps that would lead me to the living room, only to pass by Asia's door and realize that it wasn't completely closed as well. Peeking inside as I was passing, I had to stop. The blood that was starting to get ebullient coming down some. Inside, the three girls were sleeping soundly, using the robes that Asia had lent them as sleepwear.

It was a tender image, seeing the three girls like that, but my male nature made me notice that both Rias' and Akeno's robes where disheveled, showing more skin and cleavage than they normally would, and had to beat an hasty retreat to the bathroom. Akeno's robe apparently came undone at some point by Rias hand pulling on it, as the brunette was sleeping perfectly still, as was Asia, but Rias' futon was completely open, and the girl had half fallen out of it, half fallen on top of Akeno.

I gave up trying to make sense of that image and did what I did best on the mornings to take my mind of it. Breakfast. No longer a surprise was Koneko waiting for me at the doorstep again. Now, where does this one lives? If its anywhere similar to Akeno, I'll need to have a long talk with Rias.

I was in the middle of putting the rice on the cooker when a groan came from behind me. I was treated to a sight of a disheveled and not at all proper Rias Gremory. If this image appeared on campus for any reason, her status as one of the Great Onee-samas of Kuoh would crumble like a tower of cards. Apparently the Buchou of the Occult Research Club wasn't a morning person. She walked inside the kitchen without acknowledging me, got to the sink and poured herself a cup of water. While she was drinking, I finally came down from the image that assaulted me and greeted the girl. "Good morning, Rias."

Apparently it was the wrong thing to do, because she sprayed my face with the contents of her mouth.

After a moment, I began to towel my face with the still dry part of my shirt, saying in a deadpan. "And I already had washed my face. You didn't need to help me do it."

"Sh-Shirou...? What-?" Rias' brain finally rebooted apparently, but still hadn't loaded the contents of the previous night.

"Go wash yourself." I told the gaping girl. "Breakfast is almost done."

She continued to look at me dumbly until I made a shooing motion with my hand and turned back to the stove.

It was to her credit that when all of them finally made to the dining table, no one was anything less than their presentable selves. Asia was used to wake early for morning prayers, and I guess Akeno was too, now that I think about it. Rias was the only one I had no idea about. She was the Heir of a Devil Clan, so she should be used to people waiting her hand and foot, but the girl looked entirely too independent and didn't give off that image at all.

And I still didn't know why had the two of them followed me home last night. The only thing so far that I had managed to get out of them was something about their 'Devil's and woman's Pride' being hurt. Whatever it was about, they didn't elaborate. I'll have to ask Asia later.

After finishing breakfast and a still stunned looking Akeno insisting that she would do the dishes, I spent the rest of the time getting my stuff back, thinking on Shitori's request and how would I train with them later tonight that I realized one slight problem. It was at night, and there wouldn't be anyone at home to cook dinner.

Stepping out of the house after the girls and locking the door, I was handing the key to Asia. "Tonight I have to do a favor for Shitori, so I'll probably get home later than normal. If you could make something for yourselves."

Akeno face that hadn't been anything less than solemn around me all morning finally sported the smirk that I was more used to from her. "Don't worry, Onii-sama."

Her words were like barbed wire lashing at me, and I winced. Though when I was about to retort, Rias' voice made me stop. "Actually, tonight we too will be out for most of the night."

"We?" I asked dumbly. "We as in we four, or we as in the Occult Research Club, or...?"

"We as in my Peerage. Asia and Ise still don't have familiars, and I booked a time in the Familiar Forest for them to be able to select one for themselves." Was the conscientious explanation.

I have no idea what to make about that. Familiars were normally dead animals infused with the leftover thoughts, or the Soul, of a dead person, and were bonded to the Magus that performed the ritual. "Are you going to use your-" I cut off my own remark when I realized that I was about to ask if they would use their own Magic Circuits on the animal they would be bonded to. Of course familiars here must be different from the ones I was accostumed to see. "Never mind."

Rias looked at me cocking her head, eyes wide with curiosity, but didn't say anything. After that the girl carried on the conversation about what familiar would Asia get and I was suddenly glad that I didn't ask them about what would be their proccess to create one. It was apparently entirely different from all the ones I knew about. They would simply go to a forest that had all sorts of creatures already saturated with the mana of the forest itself and could bond with one of them there. Rias and Akeno already had their own familiars too, apparently.

Classes continued to be boring and to my surprise, lunch break passed without anyone actually coming to talk to me. Not even Asia had come this time, but I noticed that after lunch break, before class, there were more whispers and furtive looks in my direction than before lunch or this morning.

Apparently the gossip mill made its rounds and there were new _interesting_ facts about my life that it was necessary to be expanded and discussed by the girls. I shrugged, not even trying to listen on their conversation this time. If it was anything like yesterday, it was obviously more rumors blowing simple actions out of proportion. I remember once in Middle School one girl was disgusted with whatever Shinji-

The thought brought a scowl to my face. Just thinking about that bastard makes me wanna grab his head and twist until I discover how many times a human skull can spin on the axis of the spine until the skin and flesh of the neck breaks. Even if Sakura had forgiven him, saying that even if his... _ministrations_... were forceful he was helping stabilize her. Once I discovered what exactly he had been doing, it took Rin and Sakura physically interposing themselves, in Sakura's case latching onto my waist hard, to make me not hunt Shinji down to the ends of the world. I ended up coming up with a compromise with them. I would not seek the bastard out, but if he had ever made the mistake of appearing in front of me, I would cut him up in so many pieces not even the worms on the ground would get anything out of eating him.

He dropped of the face of the Earth after that.

I was brought out of my reminiscence when a finger made its presence known by poking my forehead, right between the eyes. "No one told you that if you scowl too much, your face will turn like that permanently when you were a kid?"

I blinked, surprised. Looking up, the commiserating face of the librarian who was helping me read the tomes appeared. "Oh, Kusaka. Sorry, just thinking about something unpleasant."

"No worries. Then shall we?" She asked, and I had to blink again.

"But class is-" Again I stopped. Apparently I was in such deep thoughts that I spent the whole afternoon classes in them and didn't even hear when it had already ended. "Oh." I blinked one more time. "What time is it?"

"More than half an hour after the classes have ended." The twin tailed braided girl informed me without informing exactly the time.

"I see." I grimaced. "Well, thank you for coming to me, then. Shall we?" She nodded and off we went to the lybrary.

Perharps unsurprisingly, we finally found some passages about dimensional hopping during the afternoon. It was all about spell for transportation to the Underworld or to Heaven, and something called the Dimensional Gap, but it was progress finally. Knowing these spells, and formulas they used, I could devise something to help me make the beacon as I was hoping. It would still take time though. According to Kusaka, trying to tweak these spells was something not even Devils did often. If the calculations where incorrect in a single variable, the teleportation spells could send someone inside the crust of the Underworld or so high up in the air that they would reach terminal velocity with minutes to spare before splatting on the ground, or even worse, teleport out in space.

After taking notes on them, and copying all the formulas, that I still have no idea on how to use, the bell for the end of the day rang. I was leaving the lybrary when Shitori came for me and brought me up to the Student Council Room. She wanted to know what I had in mind for training first. Apparently she had heard some stories about my methods from Rias and was having second thoughts, even after all she said yesterday.

"Well, today what I want to know is only the capabilities of each of your members and yourself. Training for people like me, like us, isn't something of a 'one size fits all' deal like the military. Each one has their own strenghts and weaknessess, and in order to maximize potential, I'll need to evaluate them." I answered truthfully. "But there are some things that I think I'll do right off the bat." A innocent smile spreading in my lips.

"What things?" She asked unnerved by my expression.

My smile only grew wider. "Let's just say that you all will be cursing my name and saying very bad things about me in short order."

Oh, and how they did. First thing I did was making all of them run thirty laps around the track field, weighted down with loads depending on the piece they had inside themselves. Needless to say, the stronger the piece, the heavier the load. By end of the ordeal, and several muted curses and promises of revenge under their breaths, we moved to inside the gym.

"Strip." I ordered them, while holding a bokutou with the point down and resting both hands on top of it. I waited for the questions and confused looks to finish, and repeated. "Strip all your clothes off." Again I ordered.

"Emiya-san! What is the meaning of this?" Shitori asked, outraged, her face flushed with embarrassment.

Pointing at her face I answered. "That right there!"

"What?!" She obviously didn't understand.

"Why exactly are you against this exercise?" I asked instead.

She was taken aback for a moment but pulled back again. "Exercise? You call us stripping of our clothes a exercise?"

"Yes." I answered seriously.

"And what is this _exercise_ will accomplish?"

"Several things. First, let me ask you. What happened during the Rating Game when Rias' Pawn used his spell on Riser's two Rooks and Knight?"

"They were defeated." Then her eyes widened when she made the connection. "Are you telling me that you want us to continue-" She bit her lip, and began promptly to unbutton her shirt, even as her face burned hot red.

The rest of the people there didn't understand what was happening, and it was Shinra who asked. "Kaichou. Why..."

"Your King understood the nature of this exercise. Have any of you watched the tape of the Rating Game between Rias Gremory and Riser Phenex?"

They looked at each other, but it was Shitori, still stripping haltingly, who answered. "I was going to show them tonight."

"Oh, okay." I conceded. "Then you'll understand what happens on the battlefield when things like modesty is taken into consideration, but let me explain in two simple words what happens. You die. Simple as that."

I started walking from one side of the row of people to the other while continuing the lecture.

"On a field of battle, you are not a woman, or a girl, or a man, or a boy. You are a warrior, a combatant. Nothing else. Your body is your weapon. If you take precious tenths of a second thinking about that a slash of a sword will expose your chest, those same tenths of second should be used in planning your next move in the combat. You can't be distracted by your unmentionables being exposed."

When I saw the girls start to imitate their King's movements, hesitantly, I continued.

"Also, sometimes" A loud crash resounded inside the gym, a moment later a thud on the floor, and a groaning Saji writhing. "it can be used to your advantage, as you can see. Some enemies have exactly that problem, and can't look directly at the other when they aren't decent or they can't stop gawking, leaving them wide open for attacks."

I grabbed Saji from his hair and pulled him up again.

"Never lose concentration during combat." I continued after depositing on him his feet. "Clothes can be reinforced to be as strong as armor. But if they disappear on you, what you should be thinking is that the openings are points of vulnerability, not that they are letting the world see parts of your body."

They were all on their underwear now, with the exception of Saji, who was still removing his pants. When he tried to take a furtive look to the side another crash on his head occurred as a thrown bokutou reached it. "In this exercise, you'll learn to combat without shame of being watched. You'll learn that this is a battlefield. The Rating Game, from my understanding, is meant to train for War, and in War modesty is a commodity not a right. Start treating the Rating Game as a War."

I walked to the other side of the Gym.

"We'll simulate a Rating Game now. You all against me. One clean blow to the head or chest is the same as retiring. This here is my territory. Where you are, will be yours." I looked at Shitori. "What is your first move?"

At first glance everything is to her advantage. I'm alone, don't have where to hide, she can see me and even if she doesn't know of my capabilities, she could sacrifice some of her pieces to discover them. The third lesson I wanted to impart was specially for Shitori.

She still thought that a Rating Game was a game. I needed to beat that out of her.

Shitori took two steps back and yelled. "Formation twenty." I had to hand to them for at least moving in formation with just that. Both her Pawns, flanked both Bishops, while her Knight took point, and her Queen and Rook stood in front of her, protectivelly.

The Knight, Meguri, charged at me with her own bokutou on hand, both Bishops started to gather energy while the Pawns advanced protectivelly of the Bishops they flanked. Meguri was fast, with the speed boost the Knight piece confered her and she had the technique of a swordswoman clearly etched on her body, but the problem was that she was still fidgety with being on her underwear.

I parried her first slash, then redirected the follow up return slash and took step back, making her overextend when she tried to get to me. I made a sideswipe with my bokutou, that she blocked with her own, but didn't realized that I had a second one in my left hand at this point already. I conked her in the head. "You're dead. Move to the side of the field."

The girl pouted, but moved, just in time for the place where I was standing to be peppered with spells that really weren't supposed to be used in a spar. I mean, really. Who uses Lightining and Fireballs in a training exercise?

Apparently the girls were more angry at me than they showed. Reinforcing myself, I jumped backwards then darted in the direction of Kusaka, who was being guarded by Saji. He interposed himself in front of me, but I threw my second Bokutou at him, which he batted aside, but was caught off guard when I got near enough to slash at him but didn't, and only tripped him, clonking a wide eyed twin braided girl behind him instead. "You're dead." Promptly I jumped back and was almost skewered by Saji's bokutou when it came up against me in a thrust. Using the same momentum that I build up with the jump backwards, I hit him in the chest, sending him sprawling backwards. I took the moment to kneel down and grab the other bokutou again. It wouldn't do to keep tracing more of them without need.

The other Pawn came at me immediately, but she was empty handed. I decided to not take advantage of the bokutou in my hand, and threw both of them up, while the girl tried to kick me on the chest. I caught her leg, and pulled her closer, breaking her balance, while striking her chest with an open palm. "You're out."

The prickling sensation of a spell about to land on me came, and I let go of the leg I was holding, jumping in the air grabbing both the wooden swords, and promptly throwing one of them at Hanakai, just as her Fireball hit where I was again. She yelped when my impromptu projectile hit her arm, knocking her arm aside. I bounced off a support beam and landed behind the bishop, and tapped her head. "You're out."

Then darted in direction of the Rook, who too didn't have any weapon on hand. She rushed in my direction at the same time, coming low to the ground. I grinned. This one had experience, apparently. She tried to trip me with a low kick, but I cartwheeled over her bonking her in the head during her charge. When I landed, Shinra attacked me with the same wodden stick. She apparently prefered a Naginata as her weapon, or at least a polearm. It didn't matter, he sideswipe was too crude and stuttered. She was still embarassed by her state of undress. I dodged it low, then jumped up and clonked her in the head too. Then turned to Shitori, with the tip of the bokutou tapping her head.

"Line up!" I called out.

Shitori was still gaping, but nodded. The others came from their various positions around the gym. And lined beside their King.

"Now, why have I beat every single one of you, without using much magic aside from Reinforcement and one invoked wodden sword?"

"You're more experienced." Shitori said. "You clearly has more combat experience than any of us."

"No. While what you say is true, it wasn't the reason for your defeat just now. I can think of four other reasons more poignant out of the top of my head. First, what's with that formation? I'm not saying that it was wrong or anything, but in the situation you were in, what was the need for it? There was a single enemy, with unknown capabilites, true, but he was still alone. That formation was too tight. There was no need to guard the King with two pieces in that situation."

I began walking from one side of the line to the other.

"Another thing, what's with that chivalry? You had the numeric advantage, but aside from the tandem spell cast by Hanakai and Kusaka, there wasn't a single attack simultaneous. You can't leave the enemy with that kind of advantage. There's no honor in the battefield. No mercy. No quarter. If you have the chance to get an enemy from behind, do it, don't wait for him to finish your ally. The only one that tried to attack me from behind was Saji. You all need to learn that ruthlessness."

Looking at them, they were finally listening to what I was saying. I think they thought that having me as a instructor was just some novelty their Kaichou had invented.

"The third thing, is why you were fighting while on your underwear. Shame. Nimura, Yura, Shinra, Meguri and Hanakai were the worst in this case. Your moves were completely stiff. Saji wasn't, but he needs to learn to not spend time looking at the bodies of the females around him. It's just as harmful and a girl with the correct mindset, can and will use it against you." I said looking at the blushing boy, then turned back to the girls. "That's the mindset that I want you to learn. It's not to flaunt your body, but learn to get over it while in combat, and still be able to recognize when the enemy is distracted by it to be able take advantage."

Then I shook my head, and sighed exhasperatedly.

"The last thing that contributed to your loss was that you all, without exception, underestimated me. You all dismissed me, maybe subconsciously, maybe not, because I am human, that has some magic, but still human. Until this point, who among you really thought that I could go against any of you in open combat and not win?" I looked between all of them. "None, right? Even if you wanted to believe in what Shitori told you, deep down, none of you could trust that acessement. ' _That's a human. That's weak._ ' That was the thought proccess in your minds, even if you were all human until not long ago. You of all people should know about how strong a human being can be, after all. All of you must have heard the stories about the great heroes of the past. They are not just stories, but history. Humans have battled against supernatural creatures since the dawn of time and have emerged victorious more times than you can count. Never underestimate an enemy, no matter how weak it looks. A small bacteria can kill a bull. A virus can bring down a horse. A human can kill a Devil. It's that simple." I paused in my lecture, took a deep breath and added. "But its not good to overstimate the enemy either. There's a saying about the elephant being affraid of the rat. It has some grounding since the rat can enter the elephants body through his anus and wreak havoc to his innards, but that only happens when certain conditions are met. Yet the elephant, a being that's thousands of times more large and can literally stomp a rat into paste, overestimate its capabilities, effectivelly creating the opening for the rat to do just that. You'll need to find a balance between the two points. Learn to proccess the enemy's capabilities and how they match up against your own. You'll need to learn to create these estimatives on the fly." I stopped in front of them and then took five steps backwards. "Some of these things we can correct as the training days go by, but some of it you all have to work on it yourselves. For today, I'll leave it here. Tomorrow I'll be delivering Shitori accessments on each one of you and what I think you'll need to train on. If you feel that it is not well suited for yourselves, then come and talk to me. During these sessions, we'll work on team building. Use your individual time to train your own abilities."

I turned my back to them and began to walk to the door, not waiting for them to question me.

"See you all tomorrow."

* * *

It was weird. Having explained the upcoming training exercises for Shitori's Peerage, I left them to do the clean up themselves. I actually wanted to help with that, but apparently the President wanted them to do it. Shitori's group was completely different from Rias' or even Riser, the two that I had studied closely over the last few weeks. Where Rias' had versatility and firepower, and Riser had firepower and experience, Shitori's Peerage was more like having a machine with parts of it missing, and each of the Pieces of the group fill in a spot inside the machine. Complementarity and utility seemed to be the choice for her Pieces. The two bishops had raw firepower and still needed to polish on their skills, but they complemented each others weaknesses. Nimura and Saji also complemented each other with hand to hand, but I think Saji must have a Sacred Gear of some kind since he was awkward with the bokutou in hand. The Rook, Yura is strong, but either she was more thrown off by the underwear battle, or she's used to brawling, not conventional fighting techniques. The Knight's, Meguri's, style is orthodox, and easy to read. She either needs to add more feints on her swordstyle or take better advantage of the abilities her Piece grants her. Shinra on the other hand was stiff, but her attacks with that polearm were better polished. Still, she too needs more decisiveness and ruthlessness on the attacks. Shitori herself... I have no idea what to make of her, to be true. Even after all this time, I still have no idea what is her main form of attack, or if she has some kind of lineage like Rias' Power of Destruction.

Distracted while recounting in my head the actual training exercises I could impart them, I was almost getting home when a scent prickled my senses. It was all the warning I received to Reinforce my arm, turn around and lift it to meet a fist coming down hard on it. It took me a second to realize who had attacked, but this scent was different from what I was used to feel in the city. It was a hulking of a man, with long hair and built like a bodybuilder. Actually, he looked too much like Berserker, only smaller, without the gray skin and red eyes. Just looking at him, I almost had a flashback to the Grail War and the cemetery that was destroyed during the battle between him and Saber, and later, Archer.

"Hoooh... You really blocked my attack." The hulking man said, showing teeth in a feral grin, putting more pressure on the fist that had hit my forearm.

Whoever this beast was, he was human. Did the Clock Tower or some analogue on this world finally caught wind of me and sent a freelancer to deal with me? No time to ponder on this now. Feeling the pressure on my forearm, I Reinforced my legs and redirected the force to the side, while using the momentum to back flip out of his range.

To my surprise the man didn't promptly attacked me, so I held the blueprints to Kanshou and Bakuya in my head, almost tracing them. "Who are you?"

"Oh? I heard that Japanese people were polite and knew that it was manners to introduce themselves first." The man watched me amused. He stroked his chin while talking, carrying his eyes up and down my posture, that it would look ridiculous without the swords in hand.

"If you resorted to attack me out of nowhere, I assume you already know who I am, but you have me at a disavantage right now. Who are you?" Several other blueprints were hovering just outside his line of vision in my mind's eye. It was then that I felt the prickle of another scent wash over me. Without thinking I immediately jumped to the side, and not a moment later, a blur of blue and silver shot through where I was.

"Good instincts, Emiya Shirou." The blur said, feminine voice, amusement on her tone, even as she turned to look at me. Blond hair framed her face for a moment, before she shook it off to the back of her head. She was holding a rapier that was the silver I caught a glimpse earlier.

The blade itself wasn't anything remarkable. It was actually pretty crappy compared to some other rapiers I have on my Marble, and the way her feet set after that first lunge suggested that this blade wasn't actually her primary weapon. But she held with her long enough for me to sympathize with its history, and piece together some information about the woman carrying it.

I grimaced at the two. They were human, undoubtedly, but they reeked of prana too. "If you won't introduce youserlves or tell the purpose of this unnanounced attack," I began turning half my body to them. "then I think were done here."

"Oh, running away, chicken?" The tall man goaded me. I only raised an eyebrow at the man, still positioning my hands to the sides, as if about to hold two weapons.

"I'm not a battle maniac. When I fight, I kill." Then flexed my hands slightly, turning my head away from the two.

A blade appeared on my field of vision then, swinging at me, but the blade itself wouldn't hit me. At least if it didn't suddenly extended out of nowhere. It took me only one glimpse to see what it was. Gram, The Sword of the Sun. A dragonslayer sword, with enough demonic power that was said to rival Excalibur as the strongest Demonic sword. But this wasn't the one I had in my Marble, it was still Gram, but different, the lithe design and simple golden handguard and quill were missing, and this one had more detailed engravings on the blade itself. Its history was different, as well.

While my brain processed that information, I jumped backwards to avoid the sword, but still didn't trace any of my blades. These first attacks weren't meant to hurt. They were almost like introductions. No killing intent whatsoever from them.

"I told you this guy wasn't who we were looking for." The one with the blades, a silverhaired boy, looked at the other two. "If he was, he would already have summoned his swords."

"He fits the description. Is human. And can handle one of my weakest punches." The hulking man said with a shrug. "I say he qualifies."

"Qualifies?" I asked, bewildered by the interaction.

"I'm tired of this already. We can just take him with us and let Georg or CaoCao deal with him. And even if its not him, we can throw him with the other puppets." The woman was ignoring me.

"That's an idea." The first one answered. "At least we can go back soon. Have I told you how much I hate this country?"

The woman sounded exhasperated. "Repeatedly. Now" She turned to me. "this will only hurt a little. Don't worry, we won't kill you."

"Wha-" I was about to ask what was she talking about, but had to reaccess. The woman's rapier was much faster this time, and managed to nick the side of my shirt and torso when I dodged to the side.

"I told you not to move." She said with a suffering sigh.

"No you didn't." The silver haired one corrected, amused. And the woman actually stopped, pondering.

"I didn't...?" She said, replaying the conversation in her head. "Well, I did now, so..." Shruging off the issue.

If I wasn't in a situation with three unknowns I would call her out on what she was talking about, but decided against it for the moment. Even if we were on a deserted street there were too many houses around us for a pitched battle to occur and bring innocent bystanders into the fray. I needed to get out of here and move this fight to somewhere else.

What was even worse, was that the woman's attack was done without any sort of killing intent. It was like she was just lunging at the air, instead of at me. That unnerved me even more. But there were three things to my advantage, at least. First, they were understimating me. Second, they were human. And third...

When the girl lounged again at me, I pointedly let her pierce me on the stomach, feigning fear at the attack. When it connected, she looked at me with an amused smirk, apparently not caring that she had just potentially hurt another person. I doubled over watching her feet, one hand on the wound that she made. She callously pulled off her blade, making the wound worse.

I watched as her feet turned while she was talking. "Now, Heracles, get-"

That's was all she had time to say, when my arm snaked on her neck in submission hold, Kanshou traced and poised to slice her neck and four other normal blades formed around the other two, poised to slice their necks, pierce their hearts and both eyes. "Now, since we got to this, either you tell me who you are, or I'll have to discover from your corpses."

The woman tried to struggle a little, but I pressed Kanshou to her neck, drawing blood.

"Is that your final answer?" I asked again, making sure that I kept both the others on my line of sight. When none made mention to say anything, I sighed. "Very well." And was about to start to fire the swords on them all, when a fourth voice came from the fog in the corner.

"That won't be necessary, Emiya Shirou-san." A boy with glasses said. "My colleagues were only instructed to bring you with them in order for us to have a conversation."

I pulled four blueprints on the boy as well, but didn't trace them. "Hell of a way to invite someone for a talk. Now, my earlier statement still stands. Either tell me who you are, or will I have to investigate your corpses later."

"We are of the Hero Faction of Khaos Brigade, Emiya Shirou-san. My name is Georg." He bowed to me with a hand in front of his body as if greeting his audience.

"Hero Faction?" Khaos Brigade? What the hell?

"And what do I owe the honor, or in this case," I said pointedly maintaining my hold on the girl, even as the two men were getting more worked up. "displeasure, of meeting you?"

"That's such an ugly word, Emiya-san." Georg said, mock hurt on his face.

"No. It's just a word. It's the action attached to the word that is ugly, and as you can see your colleagues also don't seem to understand other words like tact or courtesy." I explained. "Now, was there a reason for this unwarranted attack on my person? Make it quick, because I still have to get home to make dinner."

He raised an eyebrow at me, his eyes trailed down to my stab wound that was polling blood at my feet then back at my face. "Indeed. There wasn't a need to attack you, my colleagues were only trying to assess your abilities."

"There are better ways to do that than to stab someone with a pointy object, or try to crush him with a punch, or slash open his chest with sword." I continued. "But you didn't answer my question. What does the Hero Faction want with me?"

"To put it bluntly to recruit you." He replied without missing a beat. "We are a group of normal humans such as yourself, that exists in order to battle against the supernatural creatures that lurk around the world."

A group of heroes? You've got to be kidding me. "Normal humans?" I deadpanned. "There's nothing normal about a human who can wield Gram," The guy with the aformentioned sword widened his eyes. "another who's apparently The Hulk's lost cousin, another who stabs people in the gut without flinching because she thought it was too tiresome to explain things properly, or lastly someone who can appear out of smoke."

"Yes, I think my definition of normal has been somewhat askew. What I mean is that none in our group is a supernatural being. Some of us have talents, such as you have, others such as us four are reincarnations of heroes of the past." The boy continued to explain, nonplussed by my jab. I needed to get out of here, fast. It wouldn't take long for them to realize that Avalon was doing its work, and the wound the girl made was being healed.

"Reincarnated heroes?" I asked anyway. I needed more information.

"The one you're holding is Jeanne, the Maiden of Orleans. Siegfried, the norse hero," He pointed to the guy who was holding Gram. "and Heracles, also known as Hercules, the greek demigod." He signaled the towering muscle bag. "And I am a descendant of the legendary alchemist Johann Georg Faust."

If I wasn't already locked into combat mode right now, I would probably gape at the penultimate one. Berserker's image came back again to the forefront of my mind during his battle against Saber. "Tell me you don't have a white haired little girl for a Master." I said despite myself.

The guy tilted his head, almost making the sword that was at his neck bite on his flesh. "What?"

"Nevermind." I shook my head. "Look." I said, and in one single movement took Kanshou off the girl's neck, released the hold and kicked her back, using the momentum to jump backwards and away from the group. "What you said is of some interest, but the way you conducted yourselves did little to make an impression of goodwill. Be glad that we are in a populated area. I'll be leaving now."

I crouched down and got my schoolbag, and continued walking down in the direction of my house. "I see. We'll talk again some other time then, Emiya-san."

In a flash, I felt their presence disappear. Teleportation. It seems that having too much prana in the air in this universe was not actually a good thing. Everyone and their uncle knew teleportation, apparently.

Tomorrow would be Thursday. Nothing to do aside from another round at the library with Kusaka or Shitori. It seems that I'll have to take the day off from research tomorrow to start creating some Bounded Fields to protect the house.

Still, Hero Faction, huh? If what that boy said is true then at least now I know that there are no Heroic Spirits from this dimension on the Throne of Heroes. Their Souls don't get that reprieve, and come back to the cycle of reincarnation.

Another curveball, world?

* * *

When I finally got home that night I sat in the limit between the foyer and the living room with my back against the wall as soon as I entered. I should probably clean myself up a bit before but...

By the Root of World and all its secrets, I was tired. Not really physically, but mentally, even though I had a half-inch hole still healing in my gut. Too many things were happening as of late. Just last month I didn't have to deal with these things, and I was obliviously happy to just try and find some way to create a beacon for Rin or Zelretch to find me.

Now, in that time span, I discovered that the people I regularly interact with are all Devils, that there's a Cold War kind of thing happening between three groups of supernatural entities, including the Devils, and going by the way the two I ran into act, if I discount Rias and Shitori, the Devils are comtemptible pricks who only see worth on their own kind and they even look down on their own weaker members, the Fallen Angels are a race of genocidal unrepentant demons wearing feathers and even the Church, supposedly the bastion of order for mankind isn't above kicking out people from their ranks that were tricked into committing an honest mistake.

And now there's another. Hero Faction, whose methods of recruiting involve stabbing someone in the gut and kidnapping them to who knows where. They claim to fight to the good of humanity, but so far the only people I saw where either homicidal, psychotic or battle maniacs. If those three are their recruiters, I don't want to have anything to do with the rest of that organization. I have enough problems as is, and I know myself well enough to realize that the more time I spend on this universe the more I'll end up getting involved in this situation, as long as there are people to save.

I sighed, passing a hand through my hair. It felt damp and I didn't understand why until I looked at the hand and realized that the hand I had used was the same that was covering my wound a few moments ago. It was drenched in blood already going dry. Letting another explosive sigh, I winced as I got up from my sitting place and moved to the bathroom to clean myself up.

My clothes were already ruined, and I'll need to burn them. That was one of the reasons that I ended up adopting Archer's choice of color when picking clothes to go to the battlefield. It was easier to hide and remove blood stains from red cloth than in any other color after all. Comparatively, this Kuoh Academy Uniform couldn't be used for anything more than maybe as cleaning rags.

While thinking about that, I finished getting undressed and put them on a separate basket to take to the yard later and burn it. Fishing around the cabinets I found some gauze and cleaned the wound with it, noting the way Avalon was working its magic. After more than twenty years with it on my body, and more than ten years learning how to make use of it, I can say that I learned how to use its more general properties better than anyone could aside from Arturia herself. I couldn't use completely like she could, Avalon wouldn't stop my aging proccess for starters, and the wounds regenerated at a slower pace than they did with her, but right now I was at least able to heal the wounds at almost the same pace that they did when Saber was around me to feed me her Prana.

I was finished with dressing the wound, just because I didn't want to deal with Avalon having to heal an infection because of the wound, but was still reeking of sweat and blood. That wouldn't be good, but I couldn't take a bath in that situation as well, so I made it do with a towel bath, cleaning the dirt, blood and grime from my body during the process, wincing at the color the water in the bucket turned after I was done with it. Dumping it on the drain, I let the faucet open to get rid of the excess that was still above it and put the towel I used for it together with the clothes. It needed to be burned as well.

Making sure the bathroom was clean, I wrapped another towel around my waist. I was living with one, er... two girls in the house now, and even if they are out, I don't want to take any chances. Living with two women for so long has drilled certain senses in my mind.

Thankfully, my zeal wasn't needed as the girls didn't come back during the time I spent inside the bathroom. After putting my work out clothes, I went to the kitchen to make dinner. I didn't know what time they would come back, so I had to make cold dishes this time around. Finishing my own meal, and after wrapping theirs with cellophane, I left it at the table.

A cursory glance around the kitchen to make sure everything was alright, I returned to the bathroom to prepare myself for the night. A nagging feeling was on the back of my mind, something I shouldn't forget was slipping, but in the end I couldn't really remember what it was.

A shriek in the middle of the night, followed by heavy footsteps and my door bursting open warned me that I shouldn't have let it go. I got up from my futon only to be knocked back down by the blonde Sister. "Onii-chan! Are you hurt? What happened? Why there's blood all over the entrance?"

She was frantic, eyes darting all over my body as if to discern where I had been hurt. Since I was still bandaged, and half my body was still tucked inside the futon, she couldn't really locate the wound. I put a hand over her head to pat and calm down the little Nun. "It's alright. It was nothing serious." That did little to comfort the girl, who was still distressed, babbling about something or other, when my eyes caught the image of Akeno on the doorway, eyes hard and face set.

"Who attacked you?" She asked, voice cold and measured. Almost uncaring.

"It was nothing serious, okay?" I smiled at her as well, trying to defuse the tension. "It was just a stab. I already patched myself up." To illustrate, I showed them the gauze wrapped around my stomach. "No need to worry, alright? I'll be okay in the morning."

The blonde's eyes widened and in the next second a cold wave of prana and a green light took over the gloominess of the room. Asia had her Sacred Gear out and was using it on me. Five seconds later, my wound was completely healed outside. Avalon was quick, and could heal any wound way faster than a normal human could, but this was beyond that. Twilight Healing was incredible, and not for the first time I ended up gaping at the power of the Sister's abilities.

"Who attacked you, Shirou?" The brunette didn't let up on her question. I grimaced minutely while thinking about what to tell her. I could tell her about the Hero Faction, but then she would immediatelly tell to Rias who in turn would warn Shitori, and getting everyone involved with it. These guys were ruthless with me, a human, I don't even want to think what they would do with these Devils, since their stated goal was to hunt them down.

To put it plainly, I don't think they are ready to meet a foe thats out to kill them mercilessly. Not yet, anyway. In a lot of ways, these kids are still sheltered, maybe because they are related one way or another to two of the Maous, and don't actually know the reality of war. Akeno might know, with the way her life played out when she was young, but then that was another reason I don't want her to know right now.

After I train her more, maybe, and when I have more information. Right now, all I want is to have her live a more carefree life, and to her smile to be more genuine than the fake ones she sported nowadays. If it is to protect these two from all the wrong that there is in the world, I'll hide the ugly side from them a little more. In a way I'm sheltering them even more, but these two suffered enough in their lifes already. I want them to have at least some more time of reprieve, before I they have to face the reality of the world one more time.

They are Devils, but right now their lives have little to no burdens, as teenagers should. To protect this type of lifestyle for them, I'll hide the truth, even lie if necessary.

"I was trying to mix some of the spells you guys use with my Magecraft, but as you can see, it didn't end very well." I forced a sardonic smile on my face. "But I'm sure I cleaned up everything. How did you guys know?"

Akeno bit her lower lip, not completely trusting my words. "There are traces of blood all over the foyer and on the wall of the living room."

I frowned. "I see. I thought I cleaned everything." I tried to steer the subject away from the wound.

I failed. "What kind spell would need for you to be stabbed?" She asked pointedly, narrowing her eyes.

"My Magecraft revolves around swords and bladed weapons." I said without missing a beat. "It just didn't mix very well with the spell I was trying to use." Shrugging it, I turned my attention back to the Sister, who was watching me after finishing up with her treatment.

"And what does that correlates with you stabbing yourself." I grimaced for real this time.

"Look. I have some secrets that I don't want anyone to know." I looked directly in her direction. Her eyes were hidden in the semi-darkness of the room. "One of them is the nature of my mysteries. When, and if I ever take anyone as an apprentice, then that person will be the only one that will know the full extent. For now, all I can tell you guys is that this isn't the first time I ended up with a sword jutting out from inside myself." When she was taken aback by that I pressed on. "And probably will not be the last."

They both looked stunned for a moment, but didn't say anything else. Asia's eyes were widened and her lip was trembling as if she was trying to say something but either didn't know how to voice it, or couldn't get her voice out. Akeno on the other hand didn't look like she believed in me but had a hooded look on her face, no doubt reminding herself that she wasn't the only one with secrets.

I changed the subject for real during this lull in the conversation. "Did you guys had dinner already?"

Asia shook her head, and Akeno simply turned back to the hallway. I smiled at them warmly and directed them to eat the snack I had prepared earlier.


	5. An Unwilling Harem

A/N: Don't own anything

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

 **An Unwilling Harem**

* * *

"Cocking a gun and pulling the trigger?" Rias asked, tilting her head.

It was our first promised session about Magecraft. It has been almost three weeks since the day of the whole disaster the night after I met the Hero Faction for the first time. That day I hadn't even noticed, but Marlianna's servants really did build a shed for me in the yard and a small Shrine where the totem of the Nekomata Clan was placed. Thankfully, I hadn't seen anyone of the so called Hero Faction anymore, but since they were human, I had to assume that they had people in their ranks without a mystical signature and used more mundane means of surveillance to observe me, and if they had they were damn good at it. In that time I used every bit of scrap information I knew on Bounded Fields to create the house's defenses, alarms and used the rest of the time to build up my workshop.

It wasn't even close to what I had on my home reality, but it was what I had for me at the moment. The circle ended up being a little smaller than the one I had drawn in the Shrine, but I used every resource I could gather to design it. I was rather proud of it actually, since the circle blocked the ambient prana completely. It was perfect to experiment with the spells from some of the Tomes that Kusaka and I managed to track down. The only thing actually missing from my part of the Workshop that I shared with Rin in my universe was my forge. I had already imagined one in the corner several times, but have yet to start building it.

My life outside of that thankfully didn't change much. Aside from the training with Shitori's group, the biggest change wasn't with me, actually. It was with Asia. That night, before coming home, she had managed to make a contract with a familiar, a Sprite Dragon. The little thing became something like a pet when it was around the house, and was fiercely protective of Asia. I saw it more than once rain lightning bolts on Ise when he got too near his master. Which in the end was counterproductive for the desires of the former Nun, actually. If I hadn't seen how she looked at the pervert nowadays, or how she would sigh quietly in the corner every now and then, or had that far away look while grinning and blushing, the fact that she named the small lizard Rassei would be the final nail in the coffin. The name was a portmanteau of Raigeki, for 'lightning strike' in Japanese, and Issei after all.

The blonde was going through her first crush, apparently, and was acting exactly like she should in my mind. A normal high school girl. I didn't really know how to feel about it, actually. On one hand, I was happy that she was adapting to live outside the sheltered life the Church had imposed her for so much time and was finally experiencing things a seventeen year old girl should, but on the other hand the target of her affection had to be the most perverted boy around. Worse, one whose clearly stated goals was to create a harem for himself. The only reprieve I had about that was that the Nun still didn't know what to do, and the guy was so clueless despite his stated goal, that I didn't see it going anywhere without outside interference. I will let that play out for now.

Ise himself had changed over these weeks. His perverseness had toned down, not by a lot, but had noticeably. He was more focused with training, and a lot of times asked for spars with me. Apparently his Sacred Gear had a Soul of a Dragon inside it, which boggled my mind. From the explanations I had before, a Sacred Gear was an artifact given to humans by God, and was bonded to the Soul of the recipient. And Ise that had a Sacred Gear with another Soul inside it. It was basically like having another Soul inside your own Soul which didn't make any sense. It wasn't a recreation either, like what I do with some of my Noble Phantasms, but a real Soul.

This Dragon's Soul, Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor, had started to help him train with the skills he already had and try to unlock more of the skills the Dragon had during his time. All that was nice, but there was a problem that we discovered by accident during one of our spars. Ise, even if he was a Reincarnated Devil, took an enormous amount of damage from blades that were designated as Dragon Slayers. The first time I parried one of his attacks with one of these swords, and had it nick his arm during the deflection, instead of a little cut like I was expecting, I almost sliced his arm open. At first I thought that I had misjudged the power of the slash, but it turns out that Ddraig had told Ise to be wary of my weapon, even if the pervert hadn't said anything to me during the spar. After spending a good deal of time chastising the boy, we had Asia heal him and called the spar off. It wouldn't do for me to kill the boy by accident.

Well, at least now I knew what to use if he ever done anything to Asia that she wasn't consenting to.

"It was the mental trigger I used. When I wanted to activate my Circuits, that was what I imagined. A friend of mine imagined a knife stabbing her heart. Another common trigger is piercing a balloon full of water or hammering a nail down. There are several different mental triggers, but they are more effective when they are discovered by the Magus and not the ones that are taught." I said, in a lecturing tone. The three of us, Rias, Akeno and myself were inside my workshop, and I was trying to teach them how to trigger their Magic Circuits. Needless to say, it wasn't going very well. At all.

I don't understand how that could be since they were beings practically made of magic. Triggering their Circuits should be second nature for them, or at least for Rias. Her Power of Destruction used her own Od to be activated, so she had to be more accustomed in using her own powers. Akeno on the other hand had that Holy energy, and I believe that if she used it would be more harmful to her than not, so that was why she shouldn't be used to this. But neither of them could understand the concept of the mental trigger. Correction, the concept they could understand, but couldn't really apply it on practice. I was having half a mind of creating a Pact with both of them again to guide them through the process. I just didn't because I wasn't sure if it would actually help.

"I wish you had just left mine open." The redhead pouted. "This is hard."

"Well, I never said it was easy." I answered her with a grin. "Anyway, try and meditate on a trigger that you could use. It can be anything that you can think in a flash."

The girl continued pouting, but didn't say anything else. Akeno was quiet for most of the session, just taking in the lecture I was trying to impart them, but I could see that it wasn't really sinking in for her too. Instead, she got up from her place sometime earlier and was looking over my notes.

"What's this spell for?" She asked looking at one of the papers. When I got up and looked at what she was attentively reading, I realized what she meant.

"That's the Aria for the summoning ritual used during the Grail War. I was thinking that, since the Heroes summoned by it can come from any of the dimensions, then maybe I could translate that into a connection with mine, but it doesn't really work that way." I grimaced taking the paper on my hand. "It connects only with the Throne of Heroes, or at least it should, and I can't find the part of the Aria that needs to be changed to connect with a specific dimension."

The brunette hummed, I don't know if in acknowledgement or in understanding. She was one of the people I had drafted to teach me about the calculated spells they use around here. Needless to say, that part was slow going too. If Rin was here, she would have dissected it in a matter of hours, but I am more of an applied Magus than a theoretical one. Trying to find the correlations of energies between the calculated spells and my mysteries was hard for me.

Akeno had been another addition to my life that I really didn't thought that would stick around at first. Not with the way I had forcefully pulled her to live here with me and Asia. She hadn't actually said anything against it after that discussion on the first night, and after that, she was abiding by everything I said with a zeal that I wasn't expecting. There was actual respect with me, not faked, or at least nothing that I could detect. If I didn't know any better, I would think that the way she addressed me as 'Onii-sama' sometimes wasn't just a way for her to try and get a rise out of me. Another thing was that she hadn't brought up the fact that so far I had made no mention to actually go through with my promise to tear her old Shrine down. I didn't know what to think about that.

"Why don't you try one of our teleportation spells to the Underworld then?" She said after studying the paper for a few more seconds.

"I did." I scowled at the wall, where more of my notes where pinned. "It's just that those spells use calculations to transport matter across the planes and I don't want that. I'm afraid to mess it up and end up in another universe where I don't have the resources I have here. When I do try it, I want it to at least have a decent level of certainty. In the meantime, if I can send at least a signal..."

Rias was looking at us contemplatively during the exchange. She was still kneeling inside the circle and hadn't moved from her position. Her motive to try and learn from me had been clearly stated, unlike the brunette. She wanted to try and channel her Power of Destruction through the Circuits to amp up the potency of her attack. According to her, during the Rating Game against Riser, the attack was stronger than normal and she thought that it was because of the Circuits.

A knock at the door, broke our little session short. Opening the door I found Asia, who didn't even bother to explain anything and just grabbed my arm. "Onii-chan, come. Quick."

"Woah, Asia?!" I exclaimed, almost losing my footing. "What's happening?" I asked, before my senses picked up the scent of different people inside the house. The Bounded Fields around the house were keyed for them, so I wasn't worried about enemies having invaded the perimeter, but after the last time she had come, when I had keyed her signature, she hadn't said when she would come back.

Entering the house I greeted the group of guests that were on the house. The Nekomata Marlianna and her two daughters, that apparently never really left her side these days, and the former Knight of Riser's Peerage, Karlamine. I hadn't really talked with her after the whole event of removing the Evil Pieces from her and the other girls.

That was one thing that I only discovered later that I shouldn't have done. Fortunately all the girls had already been turned into Devils for some time, so they didn't have the problems that could arise from forcibly removing their Pieces. According to Shitori, removing an Evil Piece from a new Devil, before he could stabilize his new existence without an external source of Prana could kill them in short order, or they could go insane and become worst than beasts, attacking everything in sight in order to try and find a new anchor. Since all the girls had already years of living as Devils, their bodies had already acclimatized and didn't really need the Piece or the King to anchor them anymore, only a source of Prana.

"Good afternoon, Marlianna-san." I greeted as I entered the room, kneeling down in front of the Youkai. Now, who am I talking to. Business Marlianna or Airhead Marlianna? Her yukata was properly fastened, and the two girls flanking her were also properly kneeling with their own yukatas fastened. Karlamine knelt a little behind and to the side of the trio, using casual clothes instead of the armor that I had seen wearing before.

"Ah~ Good afternoon, Shi-chan~" Airhead it is, then. The woman greeted me without bowing like me, only waving. "Karu-chan came to be your first guest~ According with your wishes she is to pay for her stay with you for herself~ She's the one that have the best chances of coming back to society for now, be it human or Devil society~ She has a contract signed with the Senri Clan that will continued to be active until the moment she decides to sever it herself or the moment she receives another Evil Piece~"

"I'll be in your care, Emiya-dono." The girl bowed her head almost coming down to the tatami mat.

"I don't mind and have offered to shelter you girls before," I said turning to the girl. "But as I'm sure you know, I'm only human, and have no access to other High-Class Devils that I could recommend your services to, or even veto him or her as a good fit for you. With that in mind, and if you have no objections, you are welcome to stay, as long as you contribute to the house and follow the house rules."

"Its more than enough, Emiya-dono." The girl lifted her head again. "I'm sure I'll be alright."

I frowned at her. Then turned to the other two housemates and the redheaded guest. "What you guys think?"

"I don't have a problem with it." Asia said, looking at the girl. Akeno was coming back from the kitchen carrying a tray with tea for the guests and us. When I looked at her she only stared back with her normal plastered smile on her face. She wouldn't say anything on this.

"Well, welcome to the household then, Karlamine." I smiled at the girl, then turned back to Asia again. "Can you show her to the master bedroom?"

"The master bedroom?" The new addition asked, looking slightly perplexed.

I turned back to her. "Yes. It's the only room available, and I was thinking in turning it into a communal room for everyone who comes to the house from the Youkai. It will help in the long run, I think. For now, it'll be yours alone, but if someone else comes, then you'll be sharing it with them."

"I see. Thank you again, Emiya-dono." The girl half-bowed again.

The girls were moving to the hallway, while Akeno knelt behind me to my left, when Marlianna pulled a scroll from her sleeve. "Here's the contract for her stay~" She said handing me the parchment.

I unsealed and read it quickly. There was really nothing worth of notice on it. Just what we had already agreed on previously, worded with way too many legal jargon. Still, there was no prana on it, so I knew it wasn't actually a magical contract to bind me to anything. In fact, aside from the fact that I was the caretaker, there was nothing about me in it.

"Anything else you want to add, Marlianna-san?" I asked the woman, while she sipped the tea.

"No~ That was all for today~" She answered.

I nodded at her, then looked at the window. It was still early, but... "Would you like to stay for dinner with us tonight?" I asked. I also didn't miss the way both the younger Devil Nekomata's ears perked and pointed themselves at me, even if they outwardly didn't move at all or change facial expressions.

"Ara~ Are you making dinner tonight for us, Shi-chan~" The woman asked, and I felt Akeno twitch behind me.

I shook my head wryly. "No. Today is the girls day to make dinner." I answered her. Three days after Akeno started staying with me, she had teamed up with Asia and declared, not asked, that they both would take over the kitchen to make dinner from then on. After a fierce round of negotiations we reached a compromise in that the girls would make dinner every other day.

For some reason the brunette treated those days as a competition. With who I still didn't know, but she continued to say that their pride was on the line and she couldn't keep on losing. I could only shiver thinking about the poor sap that got in the way of the two girls. They even got me to taste test their creations and so far everything they made has been delicious, but for some reason they still didn't let up on that competitive spirit. I thought about asking them who they were competing with on more than one occasion, but the same sense that told me to jump aside when a projectile weapon had been thrown my way screamed for me to keep quiet in that subject.

I think that maybe the pride of a Devil was showing through in them, but... What kind of Devil's pride consists in their cooking prowess? It seemed that this was another curveball this universe had sent my way that I couldn't really understand.

The two girls ears that had perked now deflated back to their heads. "I think-" The woman was interrupted when a _nya-nya-nyaa_ came from both catgirls. "Humm~~ It seems my kitties don't want to~"

I swear I felt the room's temperature drop a few degrees centered on the girl behind me and the redhead that was sitting on the corner away from the conversation. Then it was gone again. I chalked that chill to my imagination. "That's a shame. The meals the girls cook are good. Really good." The imaginary chill came again, but it was gone a second later. I thought that maybe having others taste-test their food would be better, since it seems that my attempts to help them weren't really going anywhere in that department.

Well, at least Karlamine would be here. Maybe she could help them.

"It's a shame~ I'm sorry, Ake-tan~" The Nekomata turned to my housemate. "But apparently they want to do something else~"

"Oh~ It's not a problem~" I frowned and turned my head to look at Akeno from the corner of my eyes. Why was she imitating the older woman speech pattern? "Onii-sama just likes to have more people on the house~" I cringed inwardly at that.

"I see~" Either the woman didn't find anything strange with the mockery Akeno was making of her, or didn't care. I don't know which would be worse. "I'll be sure to visit more times then~" She got up from her place. "We'll be going now~ See you later, Shi-chan~ Ake-tan~ Ria-tan~

I accompanied them to the porch, and at the same time, Rias came too, saying her own goodbyes and promising me she would try and think a trigger for herself.

* * *

That night, during my sleep I was dreaming about things that couldn't be possible. I don't know what brought about exactly, but ever since the night were I was stabbed and healed by Avalon and later Asia's Sacred Gear, I started having strange dreams.

They were almost memories, like a Dream Cycle all over again. Like when Archer was close and I saw some of his memories, or when I saw Saber's life. They were vivid, and I almost thought that during my testing with the summoning ritual I had somehow summoned an Heroic Spirit by accident, but that couldn't really be it. For all the Prana in the ambient in this place, I don't think that only reading the Aria while concentrating on something else it would be enough to summon a Heroic Spirit, not to mention the dreams began before I even began to fiddle with that ritual.

But these dreams where like that. Memories, only that I was myself in these memories. I wasn't dreaming memories of anyone else, just myself. I was thinking that maybe I had spent too much time outside my own universe and was starting to sync my memories with the 'Emiya Shirou' of this universe, but that couldn't be right as well. After all, even if some of the dreams were peaceful, of an idyllic life with a wife and kids that I never met, of bills and work, there were dreams of wars, skirmishes and battlefields as well.

Like the one I'm having right now. I'm running away inside a forest that I somehow recognize, from a hulking giant of a man with red skin that looks like a wrong version of Berserker, even more fearsome than the former Heroic Spirit invoked by Illya, with malice spreading through him. Speaking of Illya, she's the one I'm running away with, so the Berserker look-alike can't be him.

I shoved Illya aside and stood in front of the red Berserker when I realized that we wouldn't be able to flee from him. The forest we are in is the same around the Einzbern Mansion on the outskirts of Fuyuki City. My left arm has an red fabric wrapping all around it, as if holding a wound that was sustained there. It took me an instant to realize what it was. The Shroud of Martin, a Holy Shroud that blocks the use of the Magic Circuits concentrated in that arm. I didn't have time to ponder on the reason why 'I' was using it, because I felt it, the moment my dream self removed it, the pain that broke part of his mind.

The same pain jolted me awake, and I looked blearily at the first rays of sunshine through the window. Whatever that was, it wasn't something I ever came across. Of that I'm certain of, as all the other dreams so far. Maybe I'm syncing memories from alternate selves, since I've been here in this universe for so long that my Soul is trying to find my home dimension? That was a possibility, even if it didn't hold much water.

I have no idea what that was, but it wasn't something that I could really talk about with anyone here. So, seeing as I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep anyway, I got up and, choosing a change of clothes, went to the bathroom to take an early shower. My body was soaked with sweat, and this was becoming another of my daily habits. Normally I would shower only after making breakfast, or not shower in the morning at all, but as of late, I've been showering almost every morning first thing.

To my surprise, I wasn't the only one who was awake already. The new addition to the household was just getting out of the room adjacent to mine. "Good morning, Karlamine." I greeted the girl, absently, already turning in the direction of the bathroom.

"Ah, good morning, Shirou-nii-sama." The girl said and I froze, my neck creaking as I turned my head back to the brown haired girl who looked at my reaction completely nonplussed.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" I had to make sure.

"'Good morning, Shirou-nii-sama'?" The girl repeated dutifully.

Yeah. I didn't hear things. "Why are you calling me that?"

The girl's eyes changed finally to show some confusion. "Yesterday, Akeno-san was explaining the rules of the house for me and one of them was that I should always call you with the honorific of a brother. Or do you prefer Shirou-nii-chan?"

My hands came to my face involuntarily. "No. Whatever she said, that isn't one of the rules of the house." I said while rubbing my face. Well, at least now I'm completely awake.

She scrunched her brows then asked. "So, the rule that I should walk in on you taking a shower once a week is also false?"

I gaped at the girl. "What!?" Then shook my head. "Yes. It's false. No way that can be a rule on a serious household."

"And the rule about sleeping with you twice a week?"

I gave up. "You know what? Forget all the rules she told you. I'll review the real rules with you later, okay?" I also need to have a good and long conversation with Akeno later.

The girl nodded. "If that's what you wish, I see no problems, Shirou-dono."

I almost corrected her again about the honorific, but gave up when I saw earnest face. "Very well. I'll take a shower now, then I'll cook some breakfast. Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure. No problem." The brown haired girl nodded.

"If you see a white haired girl, the Nekomata of Rias' Peerage on the front porch, let her in. I'll not be long." I was about to turn back to the bathroom when another thing came to mind. "You didn't wake up this early because of that false rule, did you?"

"No." She shook her head. "I usually wake up around this time for my morning exercises."

"I see. Good." I breathed relieved. "Just make sure not to make loud noises and don't leave the premises without one of us with you."

"Very well." She nodded and I finally finished my trip to the bathroom.

This was going to be another long day. But still, this interaction was an eye opener. If Karlamine, the girl who according to Marlianna-san had the best chance to be reintegrated to society was so gullible, I shudder to think how bad the others are. Involuntarily my thoughts came back to Riser too. If this girl hadn't seen anything wrong with those requests, what kinds of things did her former King asked her to do.

* * *

Karlamine was going to enroll on Kuoh Academy as well, apparently. She had negotiated herself with Shitori for the latter to facilitate her admittance in the middle of the school year. I didn't say anything against it because it would work on my favor, since the girl wouldn't be left alone for longs periods of time. Our interaction that morning was all that I needed to know that it would be best to not leave her alone for so long.

Although she left Riser's Peerage and the Phenex Clan behind, everything that she earned during her service of their Third Heir hadn't been claimed back from them. She had enough assets to not need to work for a living now for some time. That was good in a way, because judging by the ammount of food she inhaled at breakfast, there was another blackhole at the table and I honestly feared for her life after she stopped living with us.

Anyway, the girl would enroll as a second year and would be placed on the same class as both Asia and Ise, which was good because the blonde could keep an eye on her for me. But on the other hand she would be on the same class as the Perverted Trio as well, even if Ise nowadays was only nominally part of it, they still did things that were at minimum reprehensible, but most of the time was downright illegal.

The pervert priests came back to mind when I thought about it. I made a mental note to ask Rias or Shitori to track them down for me, but wasn't actually hoping for anything. With my luck, they would do something wrong in front of me sooner or later.

We were nearing the Golden Week, and I thought that maybe the girl would start classes after the break, but seems like I was wrong about that too.

During lunch break I decided to see how the ex-Knight was adapting to the classes and was surprised to see that the other students weren't crowding her seat, which was pretty much the norm for any new transfer student. She was diligently eating her lunch alone in the room. Even Asia wasn't around, and most of all, when I appeared on the door, everyone looked at me, some with wide eyed surprise, some with something akin to loathing, and the Perverted Trio, sans Ise, with open fear.

I had no idea what had just happened, and was about to ask for the girl when a loud voice from behind me called my attention. "Sempai." It was Saji. He greeted me, and said without preamble. "Teach me how you do it." He bowed ninety degrees in front of me, almost headbutting my stomach in the process.

I knit my brows, honestly bewildered. "Do what?" Was there something I did during training that he wanted me to teach him?

He didn't have the time to answer however as Nimura appeared from the behind him, and pulled his ear. "Now, now, Gen-chan. We can't have that, can we?" Then she turned to me. "Hello, Sempai."

"Ah... Hel... lo?" It came out as question in the end, because the girl didn't stop to hear my greeting and was already pulling Saji by the ear back down the hall.

What was that about?

When I turned back to the room, I almost yelped as the reason for me to even come to this floor suddenly appeared in front of me. "Hello, Shirou-dono. Do you need something?"

I stared at the girl dumbly for some time, and she stared back, face impassive in a way that bordered on the unnerving. "Ah, no. Nothing." I said, forcing a smile to appear on my face. "Just came to check on you."

"I see." She nodded to me. "Thank you for your concern."

"No." I waved off, more naturally this time. "I'll be going then. If you need anything, you know where my class is?"

"Yes." She answered immediately, face still an impassive mask.

"Then I'll be going now. See you later." I retreated from that classroom. Thing is, now I was recognizing the pattern of several people looking at me with the corner of their eyes suspiciously.

My classroom went silent for a moment when I entered the room. I made my way to my desk and sat at it, trying to act as casual as always. Moments later the chatter picked back up.

What the hell kind of rumor spread about me this time?

I was afraid to even Reinforce my hearing to hear the conversations around. There was something unnerving about the development this time that I was honestly afraid that if I got wind of the reasons about this latest development my faith in humanity would be crushed.

So, I ignored everything for the rest of the class, and practically fled the room after homeroom. When I was passing through the second floor landing I heard the voice of the trio of Perverts again, this time Ise was the one saying something.

I stopped to eavesdrop on them. No need to Reinforce my hearing this time, as they weren't really whispering. "...at what happened last time."

"What do you know? You already spend all your time with Rias-sama and Akeno-sama." Matsuda's voice was sounding indignant.

"And worse, you don't share pictures!" So was Motohama's.

"I don't share because I don't have any!" Ise's voice came louder. "I don't know if they are under protection or not, and I have no intention of discover that. I have to content myself with seeing them live."

"You can see them live, but we can't!" Motohama again. "Ah... Inside the old school building... away from the rest of the civilization..."

"Do you want to try your hand yourself?" Ise again.

"No." Matsuda replied quickly. "Not me." A pause and when I was about to move again, he continued. "Do you think that what she said is true?" Matsuda interposed.

"Look, I don't think its true. Sempai is pretty straight laced, but he's scary as hell when he wants to protect someone." Ise again.

Another pause and Matsuda said. "But you'll help us, right?"

"Don't worry, we'll just need you to distract him. You know him quite well, you can do that for us, right? We'll share the pictures with you later." Motohama continued.

"No way. You don't know how Sempai is." Ise's voice laced with terror. "All those rumors about him don't do him justice. If he gets even wind of this he'll use us as target practice."

I decided that now was time for me to make myself known. "Listen to the kid." I said leaving my hiding spot and walking in their direction. I have no idea what they were talking about, but considering that it involved pictures, sharing of said pictures and that Karlamine had just started school today, I could make a few educated guesses. "I'm just thinking of going to the Archery Dojo today, and maybe some moving targets will be good practice." I said finishing the trip where I put a hand on the nape of the neck of both Perverts that had their backs to me.

Ise didn't even try to run, and just sighed defeated while hunching his whole body forward. "I told you."

"We're not planning anything." Motohama said, trying to free himself from my grip.

"We're not going to do anything!" Matsuda cried. "I swear!" His voice was desperate.

"I see." I slacked my grip and started rubbing my hands on their backs instead. "That's good. Some people don't learn from their mistakes." I slapped them both, hard. "It's good to see that some really take their lessons to heart." I slapped again, harder.

"Y-Yeah." Both cried out simultaneously.

"Good." I took another step forward, stepping in between the two of them. "That's good. That's very good." Then pulled both of them in choke holds. "But just in case, here's another refresher. Anyone under.. what was it that you said again?" I said looking at Ise. "Ah, right, protection. Anyone under my protection ever finds themselves in a situation that is untoward, I don't care if it was because the world's gravity decided to invert itself all of sudden, I'm coming for you, then you'll understand what can be done with a fuse box with open wires, twenty meters of insulation tape and a screwdriver." I smiled widely, making sure both saw. Then I let both of them go. "Now, while we are on the subject." The three flinched. "Who are we talking about?"

Understandably the three refused to say anything and fled at the first opportunity, which was when Asia and Karlamine appeared out the door of their classroom.

Looking at the backs of the fleeing trio, I gave them a crooked smile while shaking my head. "So, what do you intend to do now, Karlamine?" I asked the brown haired girl when they both came closer. "Asia has to go to the Occult Research Club, and I have some business at the library, so we'll only leave school later."

"I was thinking of finding some place to train during this period, Shirou-dono." The girl answered, her face wasn't that impassive mask anymore at least.

"Your swordsmanship is already topnotch from what I remember, but I won't say that training isn't a good thing." I said while an idea came to me. "But you came to live with us for a reason, right? Why don't you try something that could potentially help in both aspects?"

She thought about it for a moment, before nodding in askance, and I started walking in the direction of the stairs, guiding them both.

"There's a Kendo Club at this school. You could apply for it. While I don't know if anything taught there could be used by your style, the workout at least will be real, and you'll be forced to interact with normal people in the meantime in a physical capacity as opposed to only in the classroom."

She looked straight ahead, taking in all that I said. "I see. That's a good solution for the moment."

Later that night, I would have to explain to the girl that no, even if she was asked to, she couldn't participate in tournaments for the school. At least she only promised them that she would think about it.

* * *

It was a day just after Golden Week ended, that I was finally ready to experiment with a spell that would send a signal to another dimension. To make sure I was sending the signal to the right dimension and not randomly to anyone, I had to use something from my home world, but unfortunately the only thing I had with me that was still from there was also something that I know that shouldn't be used willynilly.

Avalon.

It was obtained by the Einzberns before the fourth Grail War, and Kiritsugu used on me to save my life when I was a kid. It was the only material thing that I had that was still from my home universe. The clothes I had on my back were burned down at some point during my stay here. Avalon had stayed conceptualized inside me, so I could summon it out at any point, but was hesitant to do it.

Its healing powers had already demonstrated time and again that it was the only thing keeping me alive with my reckless fighting style and even out of battle I had a little refresher just during the Golden Week about its healing properties. After all my lessons and meditation, Akeno finally managed to trigger her Magic Circuits and spent the whole next day on bed for overexertion. If it wasn't for Avalon and Asia's Twilight Healing, we would be both dead by the amount of mana that poured out of her. To make matters even worse, the girl had used what passes for Holy magic around here. It should be deadly to her, but she somehow was only affected by the overexertion itself, not the lightning that came with it. I, on the other hand, had to escape the shed when it happened and even then it was a close call.

Akeno's trigger, it turns out, was to whip at... something or someone. I don't know, and didn't ask. I really hope that it was something, and not someone that she imagined while triggering her circuits. I mean, triggers are supposed to be things that you can think about in a blink of an eye, they are part of your psyche. Why would she think about whipping in a instant? I was too afraid to ask that. Just imagining the answer sent cold shivers down my spine.

Steering the subject away from that and back to the reason Avalon would be needed, the spell that we finally devised would need to be used repeatedly. I mean, I was targeting my universe, but it didn't mean that Rin or Zelretch were actually waiting for it. It would take a good deal of luck, but if I kept casting the spell at the same time of day, everyday, someday someone would get the hint and come to investigate, right? Even if it wasn't them that got the signal, Zelretch would be the only one, or maybe Rin, who actually could come here and investigate. In the meantime, I would work in refining it so that it would be more precise, or maybe make it so I could target them directly. I really wanted to let it active all the time, but then the problem came back to Avalon. I couldn't on good conscience leave it alone for so much time. It was too valuable, both sentimentally and practically.

Concentrating on the conceptualized artifact inside me, I began to summon it and after what feels like having a leg being ripped out, I finally had it my hands.

I set it inside the circle, and began gather the Od inside me to cast the spells. Spellwork in this universe was completely different from the Magecraft I'm used to. There's a series of calculations and formulas that have to be conceptualized and solved in tandem with the gathering of the energy. There's no need for Aria to actually be chanted, but it can help with the mental image, like a mnemonic. Unfortunately, the calculations are so outside my field of expertise that I simply couldn't come up with one to use.

I have no idea if it worked in the end. There wasn't actually a way for me to be sure that the signal was sent. The message itself was just a simple S.O.S. in morse code, so it didn't really give anything away about me or anything. The only test I did with this spell was to send a signal to Shitori when she was in the Underworld for some business relating to her family.

The time when Levia-tan appeared for me again that day, out of nowhere in front of my house was something that I wished that it didn't happen the way it did. All my protections and spells around the house were completely ignored by the Magical Girl cosplayer and the sound of the alarm could have woken up the dead. Worse, since it was concentrated all inside the perimeter, no noise was leaked outside the walls of the property and everything kept resounding inside. It took me five minutes to realize that there was no attack and another two to reset the alarm. At least the woman had the decency of looking sheepish after that. There's a doorbell at the front gate for a reason, after all. In the end, all the business she had with me was forgotten, as the scatterbrain left it in favor of trying to convert Karlamine into a Magic Knight that would be her sidekick, or something.

Anyway, with Shitori's help I managed to confirm that at least between here and the Underworld the signal was being transmitted, and since I used one of her pencils, the signal was sent directly to her, not to the entire world. The only thing I was afraid now was that, even while modified, the probability of the spell to be sending signals to the Fae that created Avalon or somewhere in the Great Britain where Saber was from, instead of the general area of my house was not insignificant.

The Fae are not exactly nice people, at least not in my world, but they rarely if ever meddle in the affairs of the mortals, preferring to kill anyone who gets inside their realms without their knowledge. They don't even leave time for them to explain themselves. If the interloper is too strong, they also know it easily and send him or her back out the gate and close the gate they used forever. It was one of the few known defeats that the Blue has suffered, since she was never able to make contact with the Fae again after she basically invaded one of their realms.

If the Fae were receiving this signal, because of Avalon, then I was screwed. They wouldn't do anything with it, or maybe even cut off the communication entirely. If it was being sent to somewhere in the Great Britain, at least the Magic Association would investigate and let Zelretch, or at least Rin since she's his apprentice, know about it. But I'm still hoping that the signal was being directed to the right place, my house.

I spent around thirty minutes powering the mystery with my own Od, before I cut it off. I was sweating profusely by this point. I just hope that they noticed my beacon during the time it was active. I conceptualized Avalon inside myself again and stayed on the ground for a few minutes to catch my breath. This was hard. I had to grimace just thinking that I would need to do this every night from now on.

At least today it was the girls day to make dinner, so I wasn't late for it. They still had that competitive streak when it came to it, but it had died down some after Karlamine tried to get herself involved. The third day after she began living with us, the girl insisted on being the one to make dinner and seeing no reason to deny her, we all relented the spot. At least we managed to salvage the pots and the appliances inside the kitchen when she was done. I honestly think that she managed to burn water on the stove, while it was turned off somehow. I hadn't seen anyone be so horrible in the kitchen since Fuji-nee and Kiritsugu.

That incident diminished some of the girls steam during their preparations of dinner, but not completely, more's the pity. Akeno still had that glint in her eyes at the beginning of every meal she prepared, and still deflated after it, even when I offered some critiques about it. In fact, she seemed to get even angrier when I commented on it. I honestly don't understand. The food they cook is great.

I toweled my face with my shirt, to remove the excess sweat and started going back to the house. Upon entering I was treated to sight of Asia petting Rassei absently while looking at the moon through the window. That was weird, Akeno was clearly already in the kitchen and Asia always helped during their turn. I had come home early today, leaving the trio to come home alone from school to make the preparations to try out my new mystery. It wasn't the first time I've done that, since the days I train with Shitori's group they've come home alone as well. So, right now was in fact the first time I saw Asia today, after we separated this morning. She was sighing every now and then, and had a troubled look on her face, a few times she looked down at her Sprite Dragon and hugged him closer, before going back to look at the moon.

Maybe something happened with Ise? It was the only explanation I could think at the moment. While puzzling that out, I greeted Karlamine who was sitting on the couch, reading a history textbook, and headed to my room to get a change of clothes and then a bath.

During dinner, the blonde almost didn't eat anything. I frowned at the way she was absently using her chopsticks. I looked at the other two sitting aroud the table but since they weren't offering any explanation, I decided to go directly to the source. "Hmm... Asia? What happened?"

"Huh?" Her eyes finally focused on me, and of all things, she blushed furiously. "N-Nothing, Onii-chan. It was nothing."

"A boy appeared on our way home from school and proposed to Asia-dono." The former Knight answered dutifully, ignoring the blush that grew three shades on the former Sister's face. "I do believe he was a Devil that Asia-dono had met before."

The mentioned girl hung her head, still blushing furiously. "Wait a minute. Proposed? As in marriage?"

"Yes. I do believe that was the case, Shirou-dono." Karlamine said, before she continued to move her chopsticks industriously, having apparently decided that she gave me enough information to work with.

I shook my head, still bewildered by the sudden event, then turned to Akeno for confirmation. The brunette wasn't smiling while she nodded. "Apparently the boy was the Devil that Asia saved and the reason why she was excommunicated from the Church."

Absorbing that information I turned again to the Nun. "And what did you answer?"

"I-I-..." She started in a normal tone, then her voice reduced to a fraction of decibel, almost lower than a whisper. "didn't."

"You didn't answer him." I pieced it together. "You didn't answer to the proposal or didn't answer him at all?"

"I do believe that Asia-dono was too stunned by the sudden proclamation of undying love that she simply blanked out after the event." Karlamine had paused on her movements. Not exactly to talk, but to hand Akeno her bowl that was empty. "Akeno-dono interposed herself and asked for the boy to talk to her another time, after she has recovered from the episode."

"Yes." Akeno continued, her face formed with a slightly displeased frown. "That boy was Diodora Astaroth, of the Astaroth Clan. It was the first time I met him, but according to Rias, he's the Heir of his Clan." The brunette informed.

"Hmmm... I see." I answered, then looked at the Nun, pondering on the facts for a moment before deciding on the course of action. "Well, from what you're telling me, it was quite the sudden outburst. You don't need to think too hard on it, though." I reached over the table and patted her head. "Just because he proposed to you, doesn't mean you have to accept it. He may have had feelings for you for a long time, but for you it was just a sudden confession. There's nothing more to it than that."

The girl looked up at me from below my hand. "Really, Onii-chan?"

"Asia, you're a good girl. You may be thinking that you don't want to hurt his feelings or something about that, right?" I paused for a moment, waiting for her to answer but all she did was give me a meek nod. "Love isn't always fair about these things. Just because you love someone, doesn't mean that someone will love us back, or even _can_ love us back in some cases. It just so happens that you, right now, is on the other side of an unrequited love. You don't need to date the guy just because he confessed to you. You decide your life, and will live with the consequences. If you do decide to go with him, make sure that its of your own free will and not because he says he wants to be with you and you don't want to hurt him." The girl nodded a little more vigorously this time. "Now, eat your food, because I know that if you don't we'll start hearing the monster inside your stomach rumble sooner or later."

She blushed at my jab but when she started to say "Mou, Onii-chan is a mea-" her stomach really decided to make itself known, making the girl blush even harder. The three of us laughed at that. Well, I laughed. Akeno just smirked and Karlamine lips twitched.

After dinner, Asia and Karlamine were doing the dishes while Akeno and me were on the living room, sipping tea and talking about what to do about her training now that she managed to discover her trigger. I could start her with basic things, like projection, but that is mainly used to teach a new Magus how to manipulate his own Od, and since she was already quite used to manage her own Od and outside Mana, maybe Structural Analysis would be better. If she's ever going to use my brand of Reinforcement on anything that isn't her own body, she'll need to understand the concepts of whatever she would need to Reinforce in the first place, so maybe that was the way to go.

While discussing this, the doorbell rang outside and I frowned looking at the clock. "Who could be at this time?" Akeno asked, but I had my answer already.

"A Devil. Someone I don't know." I answered the girl. "I'll go get the door. You don't come out until and if I say so."

The brunette nodded, but trailed behind me until I got to the door to the outside. After closing it behind me I went to the gate and was greeted by a dark haired boy with gentle features that was standing just outside the border of my Bounded Fields. "Good evening, is this where Asia-san lives?" He asked.

"Good evening. Who wants to know?" I answered with a question of my own.

"I'm Diodora Astaroth. I have unfinished business with Asia-san and would like to talk with her." The boy answered me, still looking almost apologetic.

I frowned at that. "I'm sorry, Astaroth, but right now isn't a good time to have any kind of talk. Would you please come some other time that isn't near midnight, or at night at all?"

His gentle features changed to something more hard as he said. "I'm not here to talk to a servant. Please, call your Master and so I can talk with her."

My face too hardened, and I pinned him with a stare. "Good, because you're not talking with a servant, but the owner of the house." I stated for him, without leaving the boundary of the field. He too was just outside the boundary, either sensing it wasn't conducive for his health to trespass or simply being polite and waiting to be invited in. I couldn't really tell. "And in this household we have rules, and one of those rules is that guests that want to come in unannounced should be here at a reasonable hour or have the reason be very important for one of the residents. Now please, either state your business or leave."

"Oh." His features turned to apologetic and the gentle tone was back. "I'm sorry for my rudeness. I didn't expect for the master of the house to answer the door."

"Well, we can't all have servants. Some of us has to make do with what we have. Now if we have an understanding, please return at a reasonable hour." I said to him, my own voice returning to calm, but firm, while I continued to pin him with a stare. I could simply call Asia and ask her if she wanted to talk with him, but I didn't want to force her to after what she said at the dinner table.

"Of course." He nodded to me. "I'll return some other time then. Have a good evening."

He turned to walk away from the house. Until the moment I saw him turning the corner, I didn't let my eyes move away from him. He can be the best thing that happened to Asia in every sense of the word, but until she agrees with anything, I'll not let this guy force her hand. She'll decide what she wants for herself, on her own time.

I entered again the house, to find the three girls waiting for me at the foyer. "Who was it?" Akeno asked.

I shrugged. "Speaking of the Devil? Know the idiom? Just it was literally in this case."

"Diodora-san?" Asia asked but was already nodding her head confirming to herself.

"Yeah, he wanted to talk with you, but since its late, I sent him away." The blonde looked relieved by that, then looked guilty a moment later. Seems like I made the right decision in sending him away.

"Okay. Thank you, Onii-chan." Her smile was much too small to be sincere. She was still troubled by what was happening.

"Look, Asia." I crouched to be at her eye level. "If he ever troubles you, talk with me okay? I'll not let him force you into something you don't want, be with his words or his actions."

The girl took a moment to look at me, then down at her feet. Then she nodded and hugged me, whispering on my shoulder. "Thank you, Onii-chan."

I got back up after releasing her. "No worries. That's what I'm here for." Then I turned to the other two. "This serves to both of you as well. If someone ever wants to force either of you to do anything you don't want to, even if they are higher than you on the Devil rank or social status, talk with me. I'm an outsider, and don't have to answer to their rules."

Akeno gave me her normal small smile, but Karlamine only looked confused. "Why would you go so far for us, Shirou-dono?"

I wryly smiled at the girl, while leading them all inside. "Well, for one, because I can. Two, because I care. And three because you are under my protection." I chuckled at the last part.

"Protection?" Karlamine asked, still confused.

"Yeah. A few days ago, the Perverted Trio was up to no good again, and they called what I do to you girls that. I thought it fit, so I began to call it that as well." I answered as we entered the living room.

They didn't realize that my smile faded when they turned their backs to me. Yeah. Protection until when? If Rin comes tomorrow, would I be able to simply abandon these girls to their own devices and go back home? If it was just a question of moving from one city to the other it wouldn't be such an issue, but it was another dimension completely.

Something has to be done about this. I need to have some insurances.

* * *

The day hadn't even began in earnest yet, and there was a limo parked right outside our house. I had to hand it to the boy, he knew how to make a show of power and money to try and woo a girl. Unfortunately for him, the two things he was using were way out of the mark when it came to the blonde.

First, Asia was a simple girl. Money and assets were valued in the same vein for her as for me, a means to an end. There was no need to have more than what one already had, as long as life was comfortable to live and the material needs were seen to. In short, she didn't like ostentation.

Second thing he was off was the fact that the roses he presented to her only made her sad. Roses were a normal gift to give to lovers and specially to girls, but Asia didn't like them. Not the receiving roses part, but the fact that they were cut off to make the bouquet. If he had given her a planter with the flowers, she would be very happy with the gift.

But when he tried to put his arm over her shoulder to direct her to his limo, it was when I intervened. "She's walking to school with us." I said, holding his arm a few inches away from her back.

"Oh," He seemed surprised, then looked at the blushing Nun. "In that case, do you care if I accompany you there?"

Asia was blushing harder than before, but her look was troubled. She simply didn't want the attention. I looked at her for confirmation, before removing his arm completely from the vicinity of the girl. The guy seemed meek, but was acting quite forceful with her. "As long as you keep your hands to yourself, and talk in a tone that we can all hear I don't mind." I said, before holding Asia's hand and starting to walk in the direction of the school. Karlamine and Akeno flanked both of us, while Koneko trailed behind, leaving the boy to walk out of range from Asia if he wanted to accompany us.

"Very well," He fell into step beside Akeno, who was wearing her _business_ smile. Pleasant and polite, and that's it. "it'll be my pleasure."

He spent the whole ten minutes of the commute trying to brag about his family and its accomplishments, while still sounding genuinely humble. He also spent a good deal of the time amping up Asia's assets, abilities and beauty. I cringed every time that happened because the blonde would clamp harder on my hand and she did not let go until after we were already inside the building.

Thankfully, Diodora wasn't a student at Kuoh so he couldn't access the grounds without proper authorization. Asia let go of my hand only when we were already on the stairway. I frowned at what was happening with the little Nun, and I didn't like it. Maybe I was really taking in that overprotective big brother aspects that I was said to have months ago. I walked behind her to her class and when she and Karlamine entered, I waved Ise who was already sitting at his desk.

"Ise, come here a second." The boy was talking with Matsuda, in hushed tones, so it was quite obvious the content of their conversation. He looked at me at my calling, then at the way Asia was acting. He blanched. My face hardened and I repeated. "Ise, now."

The boy practically teleported to my feet, prostrated with his head on the floor. "I swear I didn't do anything, Emiya-sama. I don't know what happened but I swear it wasn't me. Please hold in your heart to be forgiving."

I slapped the back of his head. "I know. Now come with me." Turning my back to him, and walking to the staircase and up to the rooftop. Once there I turned to the still white faced boy. "Listen, there's a guy that's bothering Asia." I said without preamble, and the wide eyed look on the pervert's eyes changed slightly from fear to apprehension. "He doesn't look like he's a bad guy, but she's bothered by his attention, so I want three things from you. One, don't let her out of your sight if you can help it and protect her from this guy. Apparently he's a High-Class devil, heir to a Clan and all that crap, but that doesn't mean he can just waltz into another Clan's territory without talking with either Rias or Shitori, so he'll have to go to one of them. Probably Rias, since Asia is part of her Peerage. You are also part of her Peerage so you should throw that weight around if he gets too uppity. Two, if anything happens that you can't deal with, come and get me. I'm not related to any of this Devil nonsense, so I can butt my head in without repercussions. And three, tell Rias that I want to talk with her during lunchtime at the clubroom. Do you got everything?"

He looked stunned at me, probably trying to process the whole spiel.

When it looked that it would take too much time I resumed for him. "One. Don't let Asia out of your sight. Two. Get me if things get out of hand. Three, tell Rias I want to talk with her during lunchtime."

"Oh. Okay. I'll do that, Sempai." He finally nodded.

"Good, now go." I said, my tone making it sound more like an order than what was my intention. This whole thing is getting me on edge and I don't like it.

I don't like it at all.

Lunchtime came, and I made my way to the Occult Research Clubroom, only to find that Diodora Astaroth was inside there, with a whole lot of other girls. Akeno, Koneko and Kiba were also present. I frowned at that image. Where did I see that before?

Oh, right. Riser. That can't be good.

"Good afternoon, Rias. Tell me this isn't another Rating Game in the making." I said to the girl behind the desk.

"Rating game?" Astaroth said, looking clueless.

"Inside joke." I answered before Rias' could, since she was coughing hard. I had made my entrance and comment just about the time she was taking a sip of her tea. "I see that you two already met. Is this a bad time for me to be here?"

Akeno slapped Rias' back lightly while Astaroth explained his presence. "Oh, no. Not at all. I was just negotiating with Gremory-sama about Asia-san."

I frowned. "Negotiating what, exactly?" I was dreading what he was about to say next.

"So far, I offered two Bishops and a pawn for her, but Gremory-sama isn't accepting the trade." The boy answered in a clear tone of voice, as if talking about figurines. I didn't like that. I really, really didn't like that. The rational part of my mind kept telling me that they are Devils, and according to Shitori, exchanging Pieces is common practice among them. But that's all well and good when they aren't happening in front of me, with people I care about.

I swear, if Rias decides to trade Asia, I'll break her contract myself.

"And as I was saying, Diodora, you can offer your whole Peerage and will still be not enough for me. The Gremory Clan always looks after our Pieces as family, and we don't trade family." Says the girl who was roped into an arranged marriage for political reasons. In the interest of not causing more confusion, I'll not point that out to her.

The boy looked troubled by that declaration. "I'm sure we can come to some sort of compromise, Gremory-sama. I really do love Asia-san. I want her to be my wife, but I can't while she's part of your Peerage. Please, can't you reconsider this."

"The decision is up to Asia," Rias was shaking her head even before the boy finished. "and you'll have to get her brother's permission too." Her smile turned sly in my direction.

Astaroth looked honestly confused. "Brother?" He asked, head swiveling between me and Rias. "But it was my understanding that Asia was an orphan that was adopted by the Church."

"Not all families need blood relation, Astaroth." I answered the boy, and he finally made the connection.

"Oh." He looked even more troubled for a second before his smile came back. "And you're her brother, I take it?"

"Good guess." Since I wasn't kicked out yet by Rias, I moved to the couch in front of him and sat down. The whole slew of girls that were behind him looked impassive at the whole exchange. It was unnerving, as if they didn't care about their own future, be it with either Astaroth or Rias. At least the boy didn't make the girls wear cosplayish clothes, and they were all wearing normal clothes, with the odd robe here and there.

"I see." He smiled at me. "It's good to see that she found a good person to acknowledge as family."

I shook my head at him. "The title of Family only exists to designate a status for people who aren't part of it. The bond created by the people who are part of it isn't something that can be expressed with words, so the best approximation to explain that status is the use of that title." Family isn't necessarily what I feel about Asia, nor is friendship either. It's a desire to protect and see her grow, to make sure the smile I witnessed the first time we were out together to buy... I mean, that first Sunday, I only want that smile to grow further.

The boy examined the words I given him, and I felt that he still didn't know quite how to deal with me. I too, for that matter, didn't know how to act with this kid. For one, he was the source of distress for Asia at the moment, but that wasn't entirely his fault. He simply declared himself for her and wanted an answer for his feelings. I was on the other end of a confession recently too, and heard about countless during my time on high school, both times actually, that it was praiseworthy for him to though it out and try to get an answer from the girl.

But he was still a Devil, and as his dealings with Rias at the moment showed, he really wasn't above buying the girl, in his own words, the love of his life, from another if it meant that she'll be his. It didn't even matter if Asia would reciprocate the feelings or not. Even if she didn't and Rias agrees to the trade, she'll spend the rest of her time with him as her King, and he could very well still order her through Command. I saw several cases of crimes of passion in the past and in the news, and not only among Magi. People had the unfortunate tendency of not taking rejection very well, and the more time they invest on a relationship, as doomed as it was from the start, the more it was likely that at some point they would snap. With a Devil, and their magic, I can't imagine it would be anything less than that.

"Surely, even if it's only in title as you describe, then wouldn't you like for her to be happy?" He asked me, still fishing for something from me. I still couldn't get a clean read on him. So far he spent all the time with a gentle smile on his face, never turning his eyes away, and appearing earnest with me, but I hadn't forgotten the outburst that he had yesterday, when he confused me with a servant. I still don't know who is the real him. It could be both, that since he's a High-Class Devil, and a Heir to his Clan, he was used to people doing what he wanted, like a spoiled brat, and only viewed the people who were equal or above his station with respect, and treated those that were below him without that same reverence. In my case, he was probably trying to be polite because the way Asia deferred to me and I treated her with the same care.

"It's the only thing I care about, to be honest, so as long as she's happy, I don't care about anything else." I answered him truthfully. "True happiness is something that has to be worked for and not handed in a silver plater, otherwise is cheap and meaningless."

"I see." The boy sat back, pensive, while still eyeing me with a calm look, then sat up from his seat, and I mirrored his movement. "It was good to talk with you, Emiya-san." Then he turned to Rias who didn't interfere in the exchange. "Thank you as well, Gremory-sama. I'll talk with Asia Argento directly about this and make sure she understands my intentions. Have a good afternoon, both of you." He said, and during the whole time he didn't took the time to introduce his Peerage, at least not to me, and didn't acknowledge Rias' Peerage either. He treated them like furniture, and I really don't like when people objectify other people.

I cursed inwardly, but otherwise didn't let anyone see my reaction, while I nodded to him and watched as he left the room with his entourage, then turned to Rias. "What are you going to do?"

"Me? Nothing." The girl shrugged. "What he said was the truth, he offered several of his Pieces to me, going as far as say that I could choose from the girls." She shook her head, grimacing. One of the things Rias has that really resonates with me is empathy. She also don't like to treat her Pieces like tools. "What about Asia?"

"I left a bodyguard with her, and considering that she doesn't want the attention, she's probably eating at her classroom." I sat back down, before thanking Akeno for the cup she put in front of me. "But, while he wasn't the reason I wanted to talk to you, at least he was part of it."

She knit her brows, puzzled. "I thought that it was the only reason you would want to."

"To be honest," I grimaced as I took a sip of the tea. "I'm afraid." Before she could ask of what, I continued. "Yesterday, I started to send the beacon back to my homeworld." I revealed that fact for the quartet. They were all well aware of what I wanted, after all. "And now, I have no idea how long it will take my ride to come and get me. It can be today, tomorrow or in ten years. But if it is today, or tomorrow or this week, or month," I began listing until I settled on. "In the immediate future, I want to make sure the things that I started here are seen to. Once I'm back on my home, I'll have no way of contacting any of you, no way of protecting any of you either-" I was cut off at this point.

"We don't need your protection, Emiya Shirou." The redhead voice was cold. "We can very well take care of ourselves."

I lowered my head. "I know. It came out wrong." I grimaced again. "I'm sorry. It's just that I can't really express it right, but I don't want nothing to happen to any of you. You, none of you, are really human, and will live hopefully for centuries after I'm already gone, but in my eyes you are all still people who I want to keep alive and well."

I stopped after that. I couldn't really explain, but these people who have been the ones who I somehow or other bonded in this dimension, had their lives changed because of it.

"I... One of the effects..." I started only to falter again and again. "Look, what you guys know about different dimensions? Aside from the trio of Heaven, Earth and Underworld, I mean."

Koneko had sat beside me, on the other side where Rias was and I absently began to scratch her head. Akeno sat on the couch across from me and Kiba stood behind her. "Well, not a lot. Only what you told us, really." Rias was the one who voiced, as she frowned.

"My friend's the one who is apprenticed to the Magus who created the Second Magic, and she has an artifact that let her hop between dimensions." I sat back looking at the ceiling trying to explain this to them. "The way she explains it, every time she crosses over to another dimension, that dimension isn't actually the dimension she jumped to anymore, because the moment she started existing there, she effectively changed it, creating a parallel world, just because of her presence. The more she interacts on that parallel dimension she created, the more time it'll take for it to correct itself and merge back with the original once she's out of there. It was the reason I spent so long alone, trying very hard to not interfere with anything here."

"What to you mean, merge back?" Akeno who was silent until now, asked.

"Exactly that. Once the anomaly, the person who shouldn't exist in that dimension disappears, the world itself will try to make the two worlds join again at some point. Think on a street that forks itself into two at one point, one road goes high through the mountains and the other goes low near a river, but in the distance, both roads connect again." Trying to correlate space-time conceptual physics with examples wasn't one of my strongest suits. "It's almost like that, but the effects of, say, me plucking a fruit from a tree in the middle of a forest would disappear rather fast, while me killing someone would take years even centuries to disappear. That's the kind of problem I'm having right now."

"I still don't see it. You came here and changed things. So what?" Rias was still bewildered, but interested. Both elbows on the table, supporting and framing her face with her hands, while leaning forward.

"I changed things, whether they were for the best or not, they don't enter the equation. Let's say that I hadn't been here from the start. What would have happened when Raynare killed Ise? She would still be alive or would she have died anyway? Or when Asia run into those perverts? Or when Riser goaded you to a Rating Game? How would things be now, or will be in the future, if I'm not here anymore. Let's say that if I'm not here tomorrow, what would happen to Asia? Would she go get married with the Astaroth kid? Would she even be alive? It's a domino effect. I wasn't here, so Asia was taken by the perverts, Ise didn't found her and didn't befriend her, she either died on the hands of the Fallen or was being used as a toy for the perverts. And that's only one instance that I had direct interaction with." I breathed out explosively while falling back against the couch. "Just me being here, changed things so much that the merger of the dimensions will take millennia to occur."

I was so distressed by the situation that I didn't even realized that Koneko at some point had lied down on my lap as I continued to caress her scalp. She was even purring happily. The other three though were still digesting the information, and for almost a minute no one said anything. Even after all that explanation I still hadn't got to the point where I wanted to get to. "Okay." The redhead finally passed through whatever she was thinking. "Even if you changed things, and we don't know if they are for the better or not, you want to... what, exactly?"

"Insurances." I finally said. "Even if the changes I created weren't meant to be, like maybe you should be Riser's wife at this point," Rias frowned disapprovingly. A look that was mirrored by both Akeno and Kiba. "or maybe you managed to defeat him on your own, who knows," I lift my hands placatingly. "I still think that some of the changes I made are good, and I want them to stick after I go home."

Rias stopped for a moment, looking up then nodded slowly. "Okay. I can see that. But what makes you think that these changes won't stick without you?"

"As I said, the world will start to try and reconverge the moment I leave. It isn't really noticeable, as I said, it will take centuries, millennia even, but it will start. During that time, I wanted some insurances that things I started here will continue after that." I explained. "It isn't the same as a Will, because my death wasn't part of the natural path of this dimension, so it will take the inhabitants of this dimension themselves to keep the changes going."

"And what changes are we talking about?" Akeno asked, leaning slightly forward.

"Like... The house we're living in. Where would you and Asia be living if it wasn't there. Would you still be in your Shrine? And Karlamine and the girls from Riser's Peerage? Would they still be part of it, still be controlled? What I want is insurance that these changes I made, and the ones I'll probably continuing making just for continuing living here, they'll stick." I looked at my hands, for a moment, to avoid meeting anyone's gaze. "I really can't explain well."

After a few more moments, Kiba, surprisingly was the one who answered. "Basically, you're worried of what will happen with us, and the people you interacted with, after you leave."

I took a second to absorb what the platinum blonde said, then nodded. "In the end, that's what comes down to, yeah."

"It's not really that different from a Will, in my opinion." He continued. "You just want that the good deeds you did during life continue after your death, and that the people you care about are seen to. Only difference really is that it isn't really about your death."

"Well, normally I would say not to worry because you are young and those platitudes that we say in such cases," Rias said leaning back on her chair. "but since for you is a very real and imminent problem, I- We'll make sure that things continue. Don't worry, even if you changed things, we kinda like the changes, and since we don't actually know if they are for the best or not, we'll go with what we do know."

That actually brought a smile to face. Yeah, that's what's really happening.

I just have to continue living here, and hope that they are going to be alright, as morbid as it sounds.

* * *

After having that talk on the Occult Research Clubroom, I went back to my own classroom, feeling lighter. It was a weight that I didn't even realize that I had been carrying around my shoulders, but I suppose that after living with them for so long, bonds of friendship had formed around me without me really taking notice.

I'll just treat it as a Will for them. They'll be the ones who'll carry out my desires after I'm not here anymore.

With those thoughts in mind, I continued the rest of my day without having any problems, and since Ise hadn't contacted me too, I hoped that Astaroth hadn't done anything too outrageous to try and woo Asia again. I was leaving the school early today again, because I didn't really need to continue on the library anymore, now that I had what I needed from it, but it had been so long that I had so much free time, that I actually didn't know what to do with myself. The Archery Dojo was a possibility, that I quickly discarded when I realized that they were having a session. The other would be to go talk with Shitori, but if she had anything for me, she would come and ask. She wasn't shy about that.

Ultimately, I decided to take a stroll around the city. The last time I really did that was actually after I met Asia and before she died. With that in mind, I packed my bag and was leaving the school grounds when a Devil with green hair and light blue eyes interposed himself in front of me. And I quickly realized that this was on the same level as Levia-tan. He was either a Maou or someone with power similar. "Good afternoon, Emiya-san." The man said, nodding.

"Good afternoon." I answered back, maintaining my tone light, fighting with myself not to enter battle mode on principle. "I'm sorry, but I don't think we were introduced before."

"Oh, of course." The man slapped his forehead. It wasn't an act either, at least I couldn't discern any falsity on his movement. "I'm Ajuka Beelzebub, one of the Maou of the Underworld. I believe that you sent an... interesting... piece of evidence of my invention being misused, and would like to have a few words with you about it."

"Oh." Right. This was the one who invented the Evil Pieces and created the system after all. "Well, I don't think that the middle of the street would be a good place to talk, and unfortunately both other places I know of would be occupied at the moment, unless you would like to accompany me to my home, Beelzebub-san."

"Of course, of course." He turned and I fell in step beside him. "And please, call me Ajuka. Beelzebub is the title I was conferred when I became a Maou. It isn't really my name."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. I hadn't actually thought of that, but it actually made sense. Levia-tan was Shitori's sister but wasn't a Sitri, or at least, hasn't ever said she was. If Leviathan was her title, then it would make sense. Of course, Levia-tan could also had married into another family too. "I apologize if I offended in some manner. The only other Maou I have interacted with was Levia-tan, Serafall Leviathan, rather, and she hasn't said anything about that."

"Don't worry, don't worry." He waved it off. "I'm actually glad that this subject has come up, because it's also part of the reason I'm here. You see, before I was known as Beelzebub, I was the Heir of the Astaroth Clan."

I grimaced at that. So the kid had sent his brother to try and convince me of something. Figures. "And?" I prompted him.

"And from what Diodora has told me, you hold a great deal of influence over your charge, your sister. I suppose I'm here to see it that you don't have any misconceptions about my brother." He explained.

"I make a point of only making judgments on the acts of the person in question. I don't make them on hearsay or from other accounts." I said pointedly. "But I'm also somewhat of a bloodhound when it comes to lies and deception." Years of dealing with Apostles and the people of the Clock Tower saw to that. "If he has the best intentions at heart for my sister, there's no need for him to be wary of my presence."

"That's... not actually what he was hoping for, but it's good to know that the girl is being cared for." He grimaced at the beginning of the sentence.

"Also, she'll make her own decisions on her own time, without outside influence, not even mine. I'll not let anyone force her into anything she doesn't want to, nor will I force her out of anything she does want. I'll make sure all her decisions come from her own free will, and that she'll be happy with them." At this I turned to the Maou. "And I'll hunt down anyone who tries to force her into anything she doesn't want, be it through action or inaction."

"I see..."

"If you could pass the message for him, that if he wants to court my sister, his ways of doing it aren't going to yield results aside from making her wary of him." I informed the man.

"What do you mean? Has he done something out of the ordinary?" Ajuka asked, frowning.

"Not out of the ordinary per se, but the way he is acting isn't correct if he really loves her." I informed the man. "I mean, he was already talking with Rias to trade her even before she had agreed to anything with him."

"That's normal. The Gremory Heir is her King, so naturally that he should negotiate with her the release of your sister." He argued back.

"I would agree with you, if Asia had already been in love with Astaroth. She's not. Period." I informed him and he didn't like very much. "Let me ask you, what would happen if Rias had made the trade?"

"Asia Argento would be part of my brother's Peerage." He said instantly, then realized the implication. He was the one who created the system after all. If Asia became part of Astaroth's Peerage, then she would have been compelled to like him in some capacity, but in the end would she love him for himself, or would she love him because he was her King. He would never be able to know for certain, without releasing her first, which would defeat the purpose of having her in the Peerage in the first place. "I see."

"He's still thinking too much like a Devil to able to court her." I said, as we reached my house. "And as an aristocrat."

"I would argue that she too is a Devil, but since she was reincarnated not long ago, I can see your point in that." He admitted. "And I suppose that I can see the reasoning behind the second part too."

I showed him inside the house. Thankfully he didn't try to force his way inside before I invited him, like the other Maou did. One time was one too many.

"But still, I have to tell you. I've never seen my brother so earnest with someone." He said as we entered the house proper, and I offered him a pair of indoor shoes. "He never came to me to help when he tried to get anyone to join him on his Peerage. All the girls he has on it came of their own volition. That he even came to me at all, was actually astonishing to me. As you are doing your best for your sister, I'm too trying to be a good brother."

I hummed while going inside the kitchen and signaling for him to wait. After putting the water on the kettle and on the stove I got back. "So, let me get this straight, we are not the ones directly involved, this isn't contract negotiations for an arranged marriage, and I have already stated that I'll not interfere with her life if she doesn't want to, so... Why are we talking about this again?"

He chuckled. "I suppose that in my zeal to help the brother that rarely asks for it, I haven't actually thought too far ahead. I apologize for that."

"No worries. So, with that out of the way, you had other subject to bring up with me." I said after waving off the earlier apology.

His face closed off, all business now that the family talk was over. "To be honest, I'm only bring it up with you because you were the one who discovered this and was the first to make it known to me." He opened his hand over the table, palm up and a Pawn piece appeared on top of it. Then he removed his hand and the Pawn settled down on top of the table. "The spells contained on this Piece are still active, and they really do what you said they did. Memory manipulation and a form of subliminal Command."

I recognized the piece instantly, but concentrated on it anyway. It was still the same Piece, down to the imperfections on the crystal, that I had asked Lord Phenex to deliver to the Maou.

"The problem I'm having is that, during testing, they don't work." He sighed. "I don't know why, but when I used the exact same spells in a controlled environment, using my own Peerage, the spells didn't take on the Piece, as they shouldn't."

"They shouldn't?" I raised an eyebrow at the man.

"No." He was scowling at the Piece. "When I designed the Evil Pieces, one of the things I made sure of was that the Piece couldn't be tampered with. Any extra spell or ritual used on them should simply wash off and don't get a hold on them. After extensive testing, with all the spells and variants that were available, including the ones on this Piece, I finally managed to make it so that the Pieces don't retain any outside spell on them." Ajuka explained while producing another Pawn, visually identical to the other, but after analyzing it, what he said was true. There weren't any extra spells on it.

"And you want to know how he managed to do it?" I asked.

"To put it bluntly, yes." He grimaced. "I tried asking the Phenex Heir directly, but apparently one of the conditions that whoever did it for him was that he was to be allowed to have his memories of the event and everything leading up to it to be erased."

My own brows came together at that. "And he allowed that? That Riser?"

"Riser... I don't know what happened to him. According to his father, he wasn't that kind of person that we saw during the Rating Game against the Gremory Heir. But we can't really trust that information, since the only ones who actually know what he's like are part of his Peerage. Parents aren't known for recognizing signs of problems with their own children."

"That's valid even for Devils, huh?" I chuckled, and he imitated me. At this point I got up and back to the kitchen to prepare two cups of tea.

When I came back, he continued. "Anyway, since Riser was a dead end about this, I had to come to the next best source."

I nodded. "Okay, but I'm not an expert on this. Hell, I only found about this by coincidence."

"But you did." He said. "I know that you are a Magician of some kind that can reproduce items with their properties intact." He took a sip of his tea while I hid my grimace with mine. "I was wondering if with your ability you could reproduce both the unadulterated and the adulterated Pieces."

I could do it. With both. But I had no reason to, aside from helping him decipher the mystery behind the adulterated Piece. "Tell me something. What you intend to do with the information?"

"Create something to counteract the tampering." He answered instantly and with conviction. Still, this is a Devil I'm talking to, and lies and deception are their M.O., specially one powerful enough to become a Maou. It would be easy for him to lie through his teeth and get me to tell him how he could essentially brainwash people with the invention that he himself created.

On the other hand he was the best bet I had to discover what had really happened with the girls that were with Marlianna-san, and with her daughters too. If anyone could solve this tampering problem would be him.

"I'll try, but I can't make any promises. The spell used on these are all alien to me." I lied to him. Whenever I trace an object, even a Mystic Code, I reproduce everything on it. Blades are the easiest, since its closely tied to my Origin, but it doesn't mean I can't do with other objects. It just takes a lot more out of me than normally would.

I began from scratch, the seven steps of Tracing. Judging the concept of creation, hypothesizing the basic structure, duplicating the composition material, imitating the skill of its making, sympathizing with the experience of its growth, reproducing the accumulated years and excelling at every manufacturing process.

At the end, there was a normal Evil Piece on my hand, a Pawn, without the added spells. "Here's a normal Piece." I put it on the table. And started again on the second one. The first step was the same, as was the second, third and fourth. In the fifth step was that I hit the snag, sympathizing with the experience of its growth. It was here that the spells were added, and it was here that the composition of the material was changed, no longer only crystal, there were impurities added in, other types of crystal.

After that I finished the other two steps and brought out the Piece.

"I don't know how, I can only reproduce the effects, but there are impurities on the crystal of this one." I said pointing to the second Piece I recreated. "I believe that's what allows the spells to take?"

He wasn't even listening to me. He took the piece I just recreated and was analyzing it. "It's an identical copy."

"It isn't really durable, however." I warned him. "Objects created this way disappear on their own after some time."

"How much time?" He hadn't stopped staring at the Piece.

"Generally minutes. I have been training and can get some of the items I create to last longer, but they are generally less complicated than these Pieces, so I have no idea how much time they'll last ." I lied again. In this dimension, I could practically maintain my Projections indefinitely. In my world, the world itself recognizes the Projection as a Phantasm and erases it, but here, where the Age of the Gods hasn't ended, Phantasmal species still exist around the world, as Asia's familiar proved.

"I see." He frowned, his face contorting in a disapproving glare at the Piece he brought. "I'll have to disassemble this piece and track down the origins of the crystal impurities then." He hung his head. "Just thinking about all the paperwork this will create, makes me want to sweep everything under the rug." I frowned at that, but he continued. "I won't, of course. Someone tampered with my work, and until I find who did it, there won't be a stone unturned in my path." His power actually flared when he said that, and I had confirmation beyond doubt that yes, there was a Maou drinking tea in my living room.

I can't wait until Rin hears about this. I smirked inwardly and hid again with my teacup.

I waited a few more minutes and dismissed the Piece the Maou was handling, but besides a little widening of his eyes, he showed no other reaction. "Is there anything else that you can share about the effects of these Pieces?"

I thought back to my time dealing with Riser's Peerage. "Not really. Only that the girls that were under the effect seemed overly loyal, almost fanatically, to Riser. But I don't know if that was because of the Pieces themselves or because of the environment. The other girls, that weren't under the influence of a mutated Piece were also very loyal to him, and even after knowing what he did, decided to continue with him afterwards, aside from Karlamine." Then Ravel came to mind. "The other thing, during that Rating Game, he used one of the mutated Pieces on his sister and she admitted that even when she disagreed with him during the game, she didn't voice that disagreement and didn't seem to understand why she hadn't."

"Mutated Piece?" He asked, now confused.

"Yeah, one of the Bishops that were tampered with." I didn't understand the confusion on the man's face.

"Ah, I see." He nodded to himself. "Still, I would ask you to not refer to these desecrations as mutations. You see, there are Pieces that Mutate naturally, and we already call them Mutated Pieces."

"Mutated Pieces?" It was my turn to parrot his question.

"I take that you know that every Piece has a value, correct?" Rias had explained that some Devils would count their Pieces like that so I nodded. "Well, a Mutated Piece has the value of the Piece plus some extra abilities. Some have a higher value than they should, while others confer the Devil reincarnated with it something extra. Some Pieces also Mutate after being used too, but all this occurs naturally without tampering."

I nodded at the explanation. So I need to differentiate Mutated Piece with Tampered Piece from now on. Good to know. I thought about it then voiced my own conjecture. "Wouldn't these pieces be on the process of mutating when they were tampered with? Or maybe they were tampered with in order to force a mutation and that's how it was discovered how to apply the spells on them?"

The man crossed his arms, while lowering his head, pondering. "Possible. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to get an edge on the Rating Game."

At this point, the door opened, revealing the three other residents of the house. When they saw who was my guest, Akeno and Karlamine immediately fell on one knee and bowed their heads, while Asia took a moment looking at the other two bewildered before following suit.

"Good evening, Beelzebub-sama." The brunette was the one to voice the greeting while the other two remained silent. "I wasn't aware of your visit, so please, have it in your heart to forgive me and my King for not receiving you with the grandeur your station deserves."

The man waved at the girl, watching her fumble with a slightly amused grin. "Don't worry about me. This is only an informal visit."

"Still, I must apologize. I'll contact my King immediately." She was about to get up again, when I interceded.

"Akeno, this is our house, and you all may be Devils, but I am not. I was the one who invited him here, so don't worry about it." I said to the girl. I have never seen her so formal before. It was creeping me out, to be honest.

She didn't move from her position. "Well," Ajuka got up from his spot. "it appears that our conversation was cut short, but it was very informative. I'll pass along the message to my brother and continue looking into that other matter. Until then, have a good evening, Emiya-san."

"Have a good evening, Ajuka." Then I remembered what Levia-tan tried to do before and warned him. "Still, if you are thinking on teleporting out, I'll ask for you to do it out of the premises. Things can get unpleasant if you don't." I don't think that will do anything to him, but for us who'll remain inside the boundary will be a problem. I made the alarms loud enough to wake up the dead, after all.

"Oh, sure. No problem. I was actually thinking of taking a stroll anyway." He grinned at me, jovially. "It's not often that I have the time to come to the human world."

I saw him to the door, and after he left I returned inside the room. Asia and Akeno were already gone, but Karlamine was waiting for me and looking at me with awe. "Shirou-dono, since when are you acquaintances with Beelzebub-sama?"

"Since this afternoon?" I shrugged. "He came to talk with me about some things."

Her eyes continued to look awed, and I had the distinct impression that they were sparkling. "You must have distinguished yourself greatly to be able to talk as an equal to one of the Maous."

I narrowed my eyes at the girl. "Didn't the Leviathan came here a few days ago? Didn't she almost roped you into becoming a Magic Knight and her sidekick?"

"That cosplayer?" The brown haired girl tilted her head quizzically, then her body went ramrod straight. "That was really the Leviathan?! It wasn't just some cosplayer crazy woman?"

"Oh, she's a cosplayer crazy woman too, but she is the Leviathan, as well." I answered.

Karlamine jaw slackened as she gaped at me. She blinked once, twice, three times, then her eyes went white and the girl fell backwards, body still rigid as a pole. I winced at the sound that her body made when it slammed into the tatami mat.

That had got to have hurt.

* * *

After dinner, that I had deferred to the girls again today, in order to cast the beacon spell on my workshop, and I saw Akeno's eyes gleam with something that I honestly couldn't identify when I told her that the kitchen was hers, I was washing the dishes with the brunette, while she told me the story of what had happened during my absence in the afternoon.

Apparently Ise took my words more seriously than I imagined and never left Asia's side, even when the others told him that it was creeping the girl out. Actually, according to Akeno, she wasn't creeped out at all, but delighted with the company and attention, even when Rassei appeared out of nowhere to rain lightning on the poor boy.

I have to commend him for his toughness. For a creature so small, that little dragon can generate some incredibly powerful blasts.

Anyway, after they spent the rest of the afternoon on club activities, i.e. waited to see if one of them would be summoned to a contract and nothing happening to either of them, Akeno collected Karlamine on the Kendo Dojo and they were leaving the school when Astaroth again tried to talk with Asia.

Only this time, I wasn't there to do anything, so maybe he thought he had a chance. Turns out Ise was either more frightened of me and what I would do, or really didn't like the boy, because he interposed himself and, while he was exchanging barbs with Astaroth, Akeno scurried the blonde away from the whole confusion.

"Did Asia said anything about the kid?" I asked without moving my eyes from my task. I'll need to work on the heater, since it appears that the water is getting colder much faster than it should, even with the usage.

"Which one?" The brunette smirked at me and if I wasn't with my hands full of suds, I would have facepalmed.

But then again, her question did have some merit. "Both."

Akeno's smirk didn't fade in the slightest. "Well, she's still very much infatuated with the pervert, and I think that says it all about the situation with other one."

I grimaced, but nodded. "Yeah. Well, as long as she's happy, I don't have any problems."

It was Akeno's turn to take a contemplative frown when she turned at me. "You don't have any problems that she's in love with the pervert?"

"I don't. I said before, but love isn't something we can control." My time with Rin came to mind. "I had a lover once, and to be honest, I don't have any idea how we ended up together. It was a complicated situation at the time and by the end of it, we just were." I shook my head. "After that, we continued together for years, but in the end we broke up the same way. At some point we simply weren't. Love is like that sometimes, fickle."

I chuckled bitterly at the memory. I heard all about break ups and how things were bad between the parts after they separated and how they fought for the smallest things. My time with Rin was riddled with fights, really, we fought all the time, but never to a level that would lead to a break up. In the end our break up was the one of the things we _didn't_ fight about.

"I don't believe that." The brunette said, surprising me with the conviction on her tone. "Love, real love, can't be something so flighty, so capricious. I agree with you that love can't be controlled, but it should be something solid. Something that even years later still exists, as strong as the day it appeared."

I flicked her nose with some of the foam in my hand. "Girls are always like that, romantics to the end, every single one of them. I admit that maybe my view on the subject is jaded by age and experience, but the only cases of love that I have seen lasting were unrequited ones."

She opened her mouth to retort, then stopped, bewildered by the end of my sentence. "Unrequited ones?"

Sighing I expanded on the notion. "Yeah. Unrequited love appears to be the strongest one." Sakura's purple eyes watching me every time I came home after longs periods away always stung a little, but I couldn't do anything for the girl. I made it perfectly clear for her that I would not lead her on, but she steadfastly refused to leave my side.

That threw the brunette at my side into another bout of internal debate while we finished the dishes. Only after we were leaving the kitchen she voiced her question. "Like with Diodora?"

I thought about the gentle looking boy and the way he was carrying his quest for the former Sister's heart. "I don't know. I would like to think that I recognize the symptoms in other people, but I can't be sure. I'm not an expert on the subject. Hell, I have so little experience with it that it's kinda funny considering my age." I sat on the couch, Asia and Karlamine must have retired to their rooms already because there was no one else in the living room. "It's just that..." I stopped there, not sure how to continue.

"You don't trust him." The brunette stated, sitting sideways beside me, one leg folded below herself.

"It's not actually trust that is the issue." I tried to explain. "I don't know if its a Devil thing, since he's a Pure-Blood Devil, he must have grown up with different set of values than myself, or if it isn't even because of that, but because of his upbringing itself. The way he's going about this whole thing just feels..." My face contorted again as I fished for the right word. "wrong."

"How so?" She crossed her arms, resting her head on the backrest of the couch, waiting for me to continue my explanation.

"Hmmm..." I paused to collect my thoughts. "I had a friend once, and the guy was a womanizer. No two ways about it. He didn't go after girls as much as expected the girls to grovel at his feet at the first sign that he was paying a little attention to them. Worse was, there were really girls who liked him like that. But he saw himself as a conqueror, a Don Juan, and never settled with them. Needless to say, the ones who weren't always at his beck and call were the ones he actually pursued even when the situation was completely hopeless."

She absorbed my explanation then her brows knit. "Had a friend?" She said, emphasizing my word choice.

"Yeah. One of the reasons why he's not anymore. Not the most important one, but it was one more for the pile of things I have against him. I'm not sure he's even alive at this point." I shook off. "Anyway, the way Astaroth acted, for all his politeness, was very much like him. The way he proposed, the way he boasts about his and his family's accomplishments, the way he paraded his whole Peerage... It just doesn't feel right."

"And why haven't you said anything to Asia, then?" Akeno asked, not even trying to deny my views.

"Because I'll not interfere with her life if she doesn't ask me to, unless it's something that I'm sure she'll regret it later. Be it Ise or Astaroth or anyone else that comes into her life, I'll not get in between them." I said, grimacing at my own choice of words.

"Doesn't mean that you'll like it, right?" She said, tilting her head and supporting it with the hand that was over the back of the couch.

"Yeah. It's her life." I sat back on the couch, turning my head up and looking at the ceiling while groaning out. "By Zelretch's fake beard, I'm really am like an overprotective older brother."

Akeno's giggle was the only thing keeping me from exploding into self-loathing. Her laugh was surprisingly free of the usual innuendo. Actually, after she started living here, it was more and more rare for me to see that side of her, at least around me and the house. She still sported that fake smile of hers every now and then, but now that I think about it, the occasions of it had been few and far in between.

I had to smile at that. It was one of the reasons why I wanted her here, after all.

"Either that or a father." Of course, that didn't mean she didn't like to tease me anymore.

A shudder washed over me, but I had to nod. "Yeah. A father." I palmed both my hands on my face.

Her giggle resounded again, as I capitulated to her. "So, I have to tell her to call you what now? Otou-sama, Chichi-ue or Tou-chan?"

"None of the above, thank you very much." I answered, primly. Then turned back to the ceiling, and closed my eyes, while bringing the conversation back to the problem at hand. "Still, the only thing I want for her, for all of you here really, is to have a more happy life, and not have it robbed by some dumb mistake that you can't take it back later."

I didn't expect the girl to answer immediately to that, but I also didn't expect to feel a weight in my lap a moment later. When I looked down, she had twisted her body so her head was on my thigh and she had closed her eyes also. I chuckled inwardly and put a hand on her head, combing her hair while looking back up at the ceiling.

I had to protect these peaceful moments for as long as I could. It was the least I could do.

* * *

The next morning I was greeted by a strange sight. Koneko was there on the front porch, so no real difference there, but beside her were Ise and Rias. Either something happened during the night that I didn't heard of yet, or Koneko had dragged them here, since it was clear that Rias wasn't her proper demure self and Ise was yawning quite openly.

"Good morning." I greeted the trio, only to have Koneko ignore me aside from the usual bob of her head, the pervert yawn again while trying to greet me back and the redhead sway from one side to the other.

I guided them to the dining room, and Ise finally greeted me properly after sitting down. I waved them off while going to the kitchen to finish preparing breakfast. The only sounds aside from mine in the kitchen came from the yard where Karlamine was doing her morning exercises. It was actually too quiet on the dining room, and I only understood why when I finally made it back there.

Rias was sleeping while sitting by the low table and at some point pulled Ise's head to her bossom. That woke the pervert right up as he didn't want to move from that position considering the leer on his face and the goofy way he kept fidgeting. I took in the scene and turned to the sole other occupant of the room who summed up the situation with one word. "...perverts."

"That sounds about right." I decided while putting down the tableware, and went back to the kitchen. When I came back, the table was fuller again, with Akeno and Asia making their way into the room. The blonde looking positively pissed at the way Rias was grabbing Ise's head, even while the redhead almost drooled over him. Of course, Asia looking pissed equated for me in the same range I would put a kitten trying to finally get that damn ball of yarn to yield to its prowess.

Akeno's eyes were twinkling with mischief and I almost shivered just imagining the ideas that would be rolling around the brunette's head. I was about call out to Karlamine, but the girl came back inside at that moment, greeted everyone and went to her room to freshen up, not even questioning the additions to the table.

When I looked again at Rias and saw that her cleavage was almost spilling out of her clothes, I had to make a judgment call, so I walked behind the two and traced a frying pan and a ladle. In deference for the others who realized what was about to happen, I allowed them to cover their ears before I beat the ladle on the pan, right next to the sleeping girl's ear.

The shriek from both of them was expected. The sigh of disappointment from the pervert was too. What I didn't expect was for Karlamine to rush into the room, half-naked, with only her skirt and bra on, holding her sword at the ready.

Another cloud appeared over Asia's head at that point because she saw the direction the pervert's gaze had gone to. I gestured to the former Knight about her state of undress, and to my surprise she didn't shriek, only turned her back again and into the hallway.

"Now that we are all awake," I said pointedly not looking at Rias. "what do we owe the pleasure of such an early visit?"

Ise knit his brows, confused. He looked from Koneko, to Rias then to me, then to Koneko again.

I turned to the white haired Nekomata with an raised eyebrow. The girl looked back at me, impassive, and said. "Breakfast."

"Okay, I'll need a little more elaboration than that this time." I answered, eyes narrowing at her.

Surprisingly it was Rias who answered. "We didn't have breakfast yet," She covered her mouth to yawn. "and there was no one home who could cook."

"Okay... And? Why's Ise with you?" I assumed that Koneko lived with Rias, wherever that was. I never went to the Pure-blood Devil's house.

"He can't cook, and..." She started.

"And Buchou is not really what you call a morning person." Akeno filled in after that.

"What does one have to do with the other." I said, putting a hand on my temple. I could feel a headache coming and it wasn't even time to go to school yet. "Let me get this question more simple and direct as possible. Why Rias, Ise and Koneko, all three of them came at the same time here?"

The redhead was the one to answer, voice still laced with confusion. "We live together..." Then realization downed on her. "Oh, you didn't know that."

My wide eyes must have been answer enough because I was stunned silent. The part of my brain dedicated to process incredible feats of human prowess simply couldn't comprehend the words being said, and was trying to find an underlying meaning that wasn't there. "Since after the whole affair with Riser, Buchou used her assets to reform Issei-kun's home so she could live there with all her Peerage." My head whipped to the Shrine Maiden while she explained.

"Okay... That answers that..." I frowned again. "But-" I cut myself off. I was about to ask that if it was for the whole Peerage, why was Akeno living on that rundown Temple, or why hasn't Asia moved in with them too. I didn't voice the question because I'm not sure I would want to know the answer.

"And since Mom and Dad are out today, we didn't have anyone to actually cook breakfast." Ise chimed in then, not realizing the turmoil going through my head. "And Buchou said yesterday that she wanted to talk with you as soon as possible too."

I think I'll just plaster a frown on my face and leave it there. It would be easier on my face muscles. I turned to the aforementioned girl and she flushed. "Well, I did say that, but I didn't mean this early."

I put both my hands up, defeated, and turned back to the kitchen just as Karlamine came to sit at the table. I have no idea where I'll sit, since the table was supposed to sit six and there was already that number around it.

After some acrobatics that involved a lot of scooting together and several elbows brushing against others involuntarily, breakfast was done away with and we were about to leave for school when Rias pulled me to wait behind before leaving the house.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'm in trouble." She said quietly. "Yesterday, my father called me and he says that the Astaroth Clan is offering a lot of assets for Asia. I can't keep denying them just on principle anymore."

"What?!" The tone of my voice was equal parts disbelieving, astonished and angry. "Rias, I'll tell you this right now, if this trade happens without her consent, you'll lose not only a Bishop, but also a friend and the Gremory Clan will have made a enemy of myself."

The girl wasn't subdued by that. "I don't want to either, but they are being pressured, and in turn they are pressuring me. I have to give them an answer by evening today."

I groaned at that forcefulness. I thought that Ajuka would have talked with Astaroth, but apparently I was wrong. Whatever the Maou had said, or whatever the boy had decided, it clearly weren't the same thing. Getting angry with Rias won't solve anything. "Do what you have to do, just warn them that they haven't seen yet what I'm capable of. I'll not let that girl martyrize herself for other people. She had enough of that during her time on the church."

There must have been something in my eyes that made the redhead gulp, but she nodded anyway.

Outside, I found what I was expecting again. Astaroth, trying to lead Asia to his limo, while the other girls interposed themselves, and Ise was flaring angrily at the Pure-blood Devil.

"She'll be part of my family by the evening. Why are you so against this? It has nothing to do with you." The boy said, he was clearly forcing himself to remain civil.

"Because she does not want to. Simple as that. Can't you see that?" Ise said, getting in his face.

"That still has nothing to do with you. Her King's Clan already agreed with mine, there's no need for a Pawn to place himself..." He stopped when he saw me, and something flashed on his eyes. Something dark that I really didn't like, it was almost a gloat, but not quite there. "Good morning, Emiya-san. Can you tell this" He signaled to Ise and I swear I heard a sound from both Rias and Koneko that was suspiciously like a growl. "to stop getting in the way of my future wife?" He asked me.

I, in turn looked at Rias, who was still narrowing her eyes at the other Heir and as such did not meet mine, to Asia, who was cowing behind Ise's body, looking honestly frightened. I then turned to Astaroth. "No." I told him bluntly, then grabbed the blonde's hand and started walking in the direction of the school.

"What do you mean?" He asked, anger slipping into his tone, but still maintaining his composure. He walked hurriedly to close the distance between him and us. "It was already agreed with Gre-"

It was as far as he got, because in the next instant I had him by the collar up to my eyes. "Remember what I said? That I wouldn't let anyone do anything with her that she didn't want? That wasn't platitude, boy." I said that last word as scathingly as I could. "If she does not want, not even a Maou will be able to stop me from protecting her, are we clear?" I asked.

"She doesn't know what she wants yet." He said, braving himself to not look cowed by the position I put him in.

"If even _she_ doesn't know what she wants, what makes you think that you know, hm?" I asked him. "You are not inside her head. You are just a spoiled child who has to have his way no matter what." I threw him on the back of his limo. "And I don't deal with brats."

"You can't do this. She's part of the Gremory and they have already agreed with us." He said while I was already walking away with Asia in tow.

I half turned my head without reducing my pace. "Try me." And continued walking. When we were out of earshot of the boy I turned to the Nun and asked. "What is it that you want?"

The girl was still stunned and looked up at me then at her back, where Ise was walking, then to the front again and to the ground, blushing.

I leaned down and whispered. "It won't solve anything." While we were walking, I deduced her thought process. Her head whipped to me again, and I continued. "You are probably thinking that if you confess now, and are rejected or don't receive an answer that you are happy with, you can go with Astaroth without a guilty conscious." She blushed harder and looked down again. It seems I hit the nail in the head. "It won't solve anything for you. It may solve things for the others, but not for you." I straightened my back and said clearly. "Don't worry."

I patted her head then looked at Ise, signaling with my eyes for him to take my place, then signaled to Rias to walk a little slower so I could talk with her.

"What the hell is happening?" I asked the girl, in a whisper, just still low enough so the others couldn't hear us. "You said you had until evening to give an answer, but the boy is acting as if the deal is already done."

The redhead went blank faced. "It's Gremory business, Shirou. While the trade won't happen until evening, the negotiations were already settled, depending only on my word. And I can't go against my family again, not after everything that happened with Riser."

I knew that Rias only went that blank faced when she her fluster passed a certain threshold. "Rias, I know you don't want to lose Asia as much, or maybe even more, than I do. So, I'll ask you this. Can you try and dig up anything on him. Anything at all, history, former associates, friends, Peerage former and current, dealings with other Clans, trades of the Astaroth Clan for other Pieces. Anything."

Some semblance of normalcy came back to her face, but she was still flushed, then nodded. "I'll see what I can do. If I find anything, I'll send word to get you."

"Find it, Rias." I said, voice earnest. "Or I'll have to do something that everyone will regret. What is the Piece that will be traded in the end?"

"His Queen, and a slew of other material things back on the Underworld." She said, voice clearly disgusted. "Not even my family can let those pass."

"That's not normal, is it?" I had to ask. "Even if the the other part is willing, is not normal to offer so much, right?"

"Maybe. The Astaroth Clan is one of the most influential Clans of the Seventy Two Pillars. They own a good portion of the Underworld and have the assets to burn. Even with everything they are offering, it's a drop in the bucket for them." She shook her head. Apparently even being filthy rich by human standards, the Gremory weren't all that high on the Devil's standards, or maybe the Astaroth was just that much higher.

We finally reached school and parted ways with the girls and Ise on the second floor. Rias and Akeno continued to the third floor with me. I got to my classroom door and the place silenced when I opened the door.

Whatever was on my face was enough to make even the gossip girls quiet themselves down. No one said anything. Homeroom and the first period were over in a flash, and not a single thing sank in for me. The break before the second period had just began, but I was feeling too restless, so in the end I decided to ditch the class altogether. Today was Friday, and I feel like if I went to PE later, I would slip up and do something stupid, like do a slam dunk or break the record for the hundred meter dash.

Instead, I went to the rooftop to try and clear my head. It was not to be.

Not fifteen minutes after I sat there, looking over the athletic field, I received some company. "Why are you ditching class, Emiya-san?" Shitori appeared from the doorway. Her face contorting into a scolding grimace.

"I think it was in the best interest of the rest of the class that for me not to be present while my mood is like this and deteriorating." I swear that the english teacher's squeak at the beginning of the class wasn't my fault. "If I stayed there, the next teacher would either call for study hall or the Police, one or the other."

The girl adjusted her glasses, but didn't comment on my flippancy. "I see that this situation with Argento-san is giving you headaches."

Shaking my head, I leaned forward on my seat, putting both elbows on my knees while holding my hands together. "I don't think I'm the one with the headache, Shitori." I answered her truthfully. "But, I've warned the parties involved. I had only a single wish, that she wouldn't be pressured into a situation, either by action or inaction." I turned to look at the President in the eyes. "And I'll not let her be forced. Period."

The girl shook her head, walking in my direction. "I don't have the right to say anything in this case, one way or the other, Emiya-san. But in my opinion, as long as she's treated right, wouldn't that be enough?"

"No." I countered bluntly. "I can treat a person right, doesn't mean that it'll make that person happy." My own voice was getting harder during this conversation.

"Some people would think that she's lucky, you know?" She said, sitting across from me on the other bench, knees together and skewed to the side. "The Astaroth Clan is considered one of the more influential, if not the most influential of the Seventy Two Pillars."

"And that translates into happiness... how?" I asked pointedly, but didn't let her answer. "Asia just spent sixteen going on seventeen years of her life confined to what amounted to a island of concrete. Wasn't one of the reasons you and Rias came to the human world to have freedom? To make your own way and not be judged by the family names you carry? Then why aren't you outraged by what is happening on your territory?"

She sighed, putting a hand on her forehead. "Emiya-san, you have to understand that what's happening with Asia, happens hundreds of times everyday with hundreds of other Devils. This case is not unique by any means."

"No." I disagreed with her promptly. "There's plenty of uniqueness to it."

Shitori looked up, clearly bewildered with my declaration. "What do you mean?"

"For one, Asia isn't just a Devil, she's was Reincarnated as a Devil less than six months ago. Is my understanding that she still needs to continue with her King until she stabilizes, which I won't say Diodora won't be capable of, but I doubt that it'll be good for Asia. Two, Asia is the holder of Twilight Healing, one of the most powerful healing Sacred Gears in existence, if my information is right. Three, Asia herself wasn't consulted on this trade, and from my understanding, when such is done, honor bound Devils would ask the Piece in question what they thought about it at least." I got up and walked to the railing. "Finally four, of all those hundreds of trades that happens everyday, none of them happens with someone I care about."

"You're a human, Shirou." Shitori rarely called me by name, prefering the impersonal surname. "You're strong yes, I'll give you that, but you can't do anything against an entire Clan of Devils."

"Two Clans, actually." I answered and she gaped. "If the Gremorys don't back off of this trade, I'll expose everything I can about them. I'm human, and I don't play by the rules of the Devils." I started walking to the doorway out of the rooftop. "And I have an arsenal of weapons, some of which no one has ever knew it existed on this world."

I continued down the stairway on to the ground floor, then out of the building. Looking at the gloomy sky, that would either rain shortly after lunch break or would keep on clouding the rest of the day, I inhaled deeply, then continued in the direction of the Archery Dojo. It should be closed but that didn't mean anything. Luckily for me, it wasn't and I didn't need to break in. I could have gone to the staff room and gotten the key, but the explanations would take too much time.

I didn't bother in getting into full gear. Just the arm and torso guards and the gloves, and set myself firing arrow after arrow on the target. Each time the bow would squeak louder for the exertion of the pull I was increasing each time. After the first ten arrows, all bullseyes, the string of the bow finally broke. I frowned at the incomplete bow, but didn't care to go and get another. I simply let it down at my feet and started tracing the bow and arrows I would continue using.

I just couldn't understand. Astaroth had gone out of his way to appear polite and even somewhat humble for me and Asia, but some of his upbringing bled through his attitude. If he said he loved her so much, why couldn't he take the time to try and talk to her normally, try to at least be friends with her first? Did he had some deadline where he needed to be wed before then otherwise he would lose his position on the Clan or some other crap like that? Or was that he was simply that impatient and wanted her as fast as possible? How can someone be sure to be in love with someone else with so little interaction, specially among Devils who are long lived. It didn't make any sense.

Another ten arrows gone, and I couldn't even see the bullseye anymore, so many of them peppering the target. I was about to trace another set of ten arrows when a sound behind me made me turn and look at the eyes of the girl that I was sure had left on the roof. "It never ceases to amaze me how accurate you are." She said, sitting seiza style on the floor behind me. "Are you sure is not part of your Magecraft?"

I snorted despite myself. "It isn't. My longest shot to date was two miles with a Reinforced Compound Bow. Center mass on a moving target. A Dead Apostle who thought that he could run from me while his ghouls stalled for time."

"Dead Apostle?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Another name for Vampire." I said, smoothing over my slip up.

She nodded in understanding. Now I knew that Vampires existed in this world too. "Still, that accuracy is not normal."

"I'm not normal by any standard." I shrugged, glossing over the issue.

I continued to fire arrow after arrow at the target, while Shitori stayed quiet. Fifty arrows later, I dismissed the ones already on the target, leaving the hay behind the paper visible through the center. I came here to calm myself from what was happening, but couldn't. If I continued here, I was liable to end up firing an arrow through the target.

Dismissing the bow, I turned back to the still pensive violet eyed girl. "So, I know why I am ditching class, but why are you?"

"I was asked to keep an eye on you and I had other business with you as well." She told me bluntly. "And seeing the way you are right now, I can see why."

"I don't need a babysitter." I ground out, trying to contain my rage. It wouldn't do to explode on the girl.

"It appears that you do, if that's the reaction you have on knowing my intention of keeping an eye on you." She explained, adjusting her glasses again.

I started removing the gear I was wearing, with calm and composed movements. "Rias should just do what I asked her, instead of doing something unnecessary."

"It wasn't Rias." She walked right behind me as she said that. "She isn't the only person on campus that considers you a friend, you know?"

I was about to ask who, but decided against it. I would probably go after the person myself and ask for explanations. "What is the other business you had with me then?"

"I don't know if now is a good time to bring it up." She replied, while looking knowingly at the bow I had discarded earlier. "But since you asked and since we are here, I'll tell you. Kuoh Academy will host this year's finals for this region qualifiers for the National Archery Tournament."

I nodded at that and let her continue.

"Since our club is going to host the event, they will be seeded and didn't have to participate on the previous rounds of the qualifiers." Then she grimaced and I was already dreading her next words. "One of our first stringers is indisposed after suffering an accident that broke his leg. We could simply put someone from the second team, but the Advisor of the Archery Club and I agreed that from all the substitutes possible, you are better than them. And we don't want Kuoh Academy to suffer a defeat on our own school. We can and probably will lose in the end, but we don't want it to be on the first or second round of the finals."

I grimaced again at that. "Archery competition, huh?" I never participated on one of those, not even on Middle-School where I was hailed as something of a prodigy on the club until my fight with Shinji. I turned, looking at the targets again. The others were all pristine, just the one I used was ragged. I couldn't actually come up with a reason not to participate. I wasn't member of the club, but the Advisor himself sought Shitori to scout me. "When is it?"

"Next month." The girl answered as I got the broken bow again in my hands.

"Alright, but don't ask me to train with the others." I said while opening the supply closet and getting a roll with the spare string to exchange the one I broke. "And I don't know if my ride won't get here before then, too." I warned.

"No problem with that." The girl said. "I already warned the Advisor that you may transfer schools without notice and that it can happen at any moment."

At least one thing this talk did was take my mind off the whole deal with Asia, but the simple thought about it brought it back to the forefront of my mind. I scowled again and almost broke the string that I was replacing on the bow. I was deciding on what to do, but the whole point turned out to be moot, since Rias appeared on the doorway on the entrance of the archery range of the Dojo, with a bundle of papers on her hand.

One look at her was enough to make sure that what Shitori had said before was true. The girl was confused by the President's presence in my company during class hours.

She entered the Dojo and gave me the stack. "Here. You were right, there's something fishy about Diodora's Peerage."

I frowned, while looking over the papers. "And what is it?" They were the profiles of each and every one of the girls on his Peerage.

"I asked for the profiles, saying that I wanted to see if his Queen would be the best piece for me, and that I wanted to know more about the other pieces instead." She explained the papers. "Turns out, every single one of the girls on his Peerage were once Holy Maidens, Sisters or other religious figures for the Church or other religions."

I started at that, knitting my brows. "That isn't normal."

"It's not. If he had two or three, hell even seven or eight, I would understand, but no. Every single one of them were turned by him too, not traded." She continued her explanation. "His Queen, Sophie, the last he acquired, was turned just last year, and she was considered a saint on her village in the Swiss Alps. Almost revered in fact, but that changed when rumors began to spread that she was communing with a Devil. The villagers turned on her, and Diodora appeared out of nowhere and saved her. There was absolutely no reason for him to be there."

"No reason? What do you mean?"

"At the time he was supposed to be on a overseeing trip on Astaroth lands on the Underworld." She explained and I scowled.

"But he was at the Vatican when Asia healed him." I pointed out.

"Yeah, and there's absolutely no record at all for him to be there too, even more for him to be hurt while being there. There's no record for someone to have summoned him, and he didn't leave the Astaroth residence in the meantime at all, until the moment he appeared in front of Asia."

"That's... weird, isn't the word. Suspicious, maybe?" My mind was racing with the information. I don't care where Rias got it, but it was getting a bigger picture here.

"And the dates don't coincide." She continued. "The moment he saved Sophie from the villagers, to the moment he turned her, it took more than six months. And all that time she was with him on the Astaroth Clan Mansion. No human survives that long on the Underworld without serious damage to their psyches. Why would she even stay there that long? Why would Diodora let her stay?"

"What about the others?" I asked, still absorbing the information.

"They are all similar cases. All girls were shunned by the church or their neighbors before being transported to the Underworld and stayed with him some time before being turned. Some took days, others months. Two of them more than a year." She pointed to two profiles. "It's just too coincidental."

"One is a occurrence, two is a coincidence." To my surprise, it was Shitori who said that. She had been silent through our whole exchange so far. "Fifteen times the same thing happening? It's a pattern."

I began thinking on the facts laid out. One. Astaroth stopped at nothing to get what he wanted. Two. He did have these girls for months before turning them into Devils, so he should have the patience to try and court Asia, but didn't and is forcing the issue. Three. All these girls were Holy Maidens, same as Asia. "Does he have a Nun fetish, or something?" I ended up voicing that thought out loud without realizing. The two girls beside me didn't react to my musings, however. Four. For all the politeness the boy had, he seemed earnest enough to try and throw even his brother's position weight in the mix. Five. The Astaroth Clan is loaded. They can just throw money at anything they want.

What picture does that create. "I'll talk with Father, try and get more time to investigate this matter further."

"It'll do no good." I objected. "The most you'll get is a day or two, and that's not enough time to do anything. Even if it was, I'm sure Astaroth has covered his bases and erased whatever evidence there was of any misdeed, if there was any."

"If there was any?" She asked back. "Shirou, this guy is using his family in order to get what he wants. And he did it before too."

"Yeah? Without proof, we don't have what to say to obejct to them. This could be all conjecture from us and he does have a good explanation about it." I answered frowning. "I don't want to do anything, but if this continues..."

Both girls grimaced too, and in that moment, Rias' phone started to ring. "Hello?" She answered in a moment. "Father?" Another pause and her face fell at whatever was being said on the other end. "But... No. I understand, I'll come right away."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Apparently they decided that since everything is already settled there's no need to wait for the night." She looked defeated. "I'll have to make the exchange right now because the Maou is here to oversee the exchange and we can't take much of his time." She got up and started walking out of the room.

I gritted my teeth. What could I do in that situation. I don't have the political clout with the Devils to do anything, and pulling Asia out by force wouldn't help her in any way. I got up and walked to the nearest wall and punched at it, hard. My hand imprinted on the concrete, leaving a bloody mark on the wall.

I heard Shitori yelp behind me as she got closer, but I didn't want to hear whatever she was about to say. I walked out of the room and into the forest that lead to the Occult Research Clubroom. Stepping on a clearing I began to try and formulate plans. If I ran away with the blonde, I would have to give up on using my workshop to cast the beacon. Would have to live a life on the run from two Devil Clans, both who had former members that were now Maous. And carrying a Stray Devil with me. I still had a lot of money on the bank account that Marlianna had paid me, and could use it to buy us safe passage out of the country. But then what? Would she even survive not having a Piece since she's a newly Reincarnated Devil? When Rin came, could she even bring Asia with me back to my homeworld? Would Asia even be able to survive there without as much Prana in the ambient as there is here?

Would she even want to leave this world?

I must have been there for more time than I thought, because out of nowhere the blonde appeared on my field of vision, running from the Clubroom in my direction, but not with the face I was expecting. She was radiant, smiling and happy. In the next moment, she walked in front of me and enveloped my waist in a hug. "Thank you, Shirou-san!" She said and I stiffened.

"Asia?" I asked, slightly disturbed. "What happened?"

"I was exchanged." She said, still a smile on her face, and it wasn't faked or forced at all. "Diodora-sama finally explained himself to me, and I accepted his proposal."

My brows knitted, and I looked over her head, to see Rias grimacing, with the Queen of Astaroth's Peerage, former Queen, I guess, beside her with her face stoic. Behind them the rest of Astaroth's Peerage too was present. She was talking with Ajuka and Lord Gremory about the whole thing and the boy was looking in my direction with a smug look on his face that was covered up an instant later. "Say, Asia, I asked the girl. Remember when I said that I would protect you when you made a bad decision?"

The girl turned her face up to me, a smile still on her lips, litting up the cloudy sky with her happiness. "Yes, but you don't have to worry about me anymore, Shirou. I'm going to be Diodora-sama's wife."

"Yeah... About that..." I started when the other were getting close. "Give a hug then." I asked the girl and she complied instantly. The next moment she had a dagger on her back.

A series of gasps came from the onlookers, every single one except from the former Queen and Diodora's Peerage. Then it was Lord Gremory who recognized the dagger. "What you think you're doing, Emiya-san?"

Ajuka looked from the dagger to me. "Why do want to kill the girl?"

I didn't answer because in the next moment, an explosion of energy that passes for demonic around these parts occured on Asia's chest and a Queen Piece floated out of her and she fainted in my arms. I grabbed the Piece and hid it between the body of the Sister and mine. Just a glimpse of it was enough for me now that I recognized these pieces.

"What in the name of the Maous was that?" Astaroth asked.

"The ceremony!" Lord Gremory said, disbelief on his voice. "Why, Emiya-san?"

"Ajuka!" I ignored the voices. "Come here. Now!" My voice was more of a command than anything else. The Maou who had a perplexed expression on his face came to me, accompanied by the others, but when Astaroth got too close, I sneered. "Not you!" Immediately he was wrapped around by a chain that linked two daggers on both ends. The prefered weapon of Rider in my time, wrapped itself four times around the boy and brought him down, nailing both daggers on the ground and pinning him there.

The Maou was startled by that and was about to retaliate when I put the Piece I just extracted from Asia on his face. "What's this?"

"The Queen Piece your brother just put on my sister." I hissed out. "Don't tell me you didn't recognize it when he did the ceremony."

"But... It was... But..." Lord Gremory began, but I interrupted him.

"Shut up." He narrowed his eyes at me, but in the cold fury I was in didn't even care that I had just effectivelly overrode his own authority on his territory.

"What do you think you're doing? I'll have your head for this." The boy on the other hand wasn't seeing me, and Rias gulped when she saw my face turning to him.

"How did this happen?" Ajuka was finally out of his stupor. "Emiya! What is the meaning of this!" He said waving the Piece for me, but still concealing it from the others.

"You are the one who created them." I answered him, coldly. "Examine her. See if she has any other Piece."

I felt the Prana start to form from the boy and in the next instant I had Durandal poised to strike the boy on the ground. "Don't even think about it. If you try anything, it'll be the last thing you'll do." I said to him.

"You are nothing, Human. Shut up and be cattle like you are suppose to be, insect!" He sneered at me.

I kneeled down, putting my knee on his diaphragm, while I dismissed Durandal and invoked another dagger and stabbing his arm with it, passing the blade through it and nailing it on the ground. He cried out in pain but I continued looking down at him. "Do you know what this is?" I asked pointing to the dagger stylized as a flower. "This is Moly, the flower wielded by Odysseus, given to him by Hermes, to protect him from Circe's magic when he went to her home to rescue his friends. It was created using the blood of the Giant Picolous that was killed by Helios on the Island of Kirke. This little dagger can negate any and all gathering of Mana by whatever it is stabbed to. It doesn't impede normal movement, but we got around that just fine, didn't we?" I passed two fingers over the chain what was wrapped around him, then got up and took two steps back. "Now be a good boy and own up."

"Brother, make this worm unbind me. I want his head now!" He said without looking at me.

Ajuka didn't answer his brother, still analysing the Piece with his back turned to me. Then I saw how he hung his head, shaking from side to side. Without a word he got up and started walking in my direction, and I could almost feel the sneer on Astaroth's face forming. And then dissolving when the Maou passed by my side and went to the girls of Diodora's Peerage.

With his hand glowing green, the Maou pressed on the chest of the closest girl, then pulled back, removing the Piece that was inside her, and the girl promptly flopped down. The others continued emotionless to the scene that was happening. They didn't even react when I stabbed Astaroth. Ajuka moved to the next girl, and the next. One by one, all the girls were falling down like marionettes with the strings cut.

Both Rias and Lord Gremory were watching the scene go with jaws agape, neither actually understanding the situation, but a cold shiver went down my spine when I recalled another piece of information about new Devils. Asia was a newly Reincarnated Devil and she didn't have an Evil Piece inside her at the moment. "Rias!" I shouted, kneeling back at the side of the blonde. My shout made the redhead look at me wide eyed. "Bishop! Now!"

The girl took two seconds to proccess the information, before running to my side. "I don't have it anymore. I used it on Sophie." She said signaling the other girl.

My head swivelled from her to the former Queen then back. "Any other Piece then. I don't know how long Asia will last without a Piece."

"Without a Piece?" She asked me disconcerted, then looked down at Asia. She moved her hand over the body of the blonde, chanting something and gasped. "Why? Diodora just gave her his Piece. I saw."

"I removed it, now she needs a Piece!" I grounded out, trying to maintain my voice level.

"I-I-I-" She stammered but braved through it. "I don't have any more Bishops. I already used my two."

"Don't you have any other Piece then, please?" I pleaded. I have no idea how long she can last without the Piece, but I don't want to take any chances.

"I can't!" The redhead too was getting desperate. "She was Reincarnated with a Bishop. I can't promote her to anything but a Queen."

My head shook with that and I looked to Lord Gremory. He was still stunned watching Ajuka do his thing, while Diodora continued to ground out whatever. I wasn't paying attention to him.

She saw my line of sight and answered the unspoken question. "Father can't too. His Peerage is already complete."

"By the Root of the World and all its Secrets." The idea formed in my head. "I have no idea if this will work or if it even can work, but I'll give it a shot." I said and Rias looked at me confused. "Trace on." I declared and concentrated. This thing has to be perfect, I have to excell at every single one of the seven steps. No room for failure. When the Piece was finished I brought it out. "Here!"

"What?!" Rias squacked. "Where did you get this?"

"I made it just now. Use it. Hurry." I fell back down. "I don't know if it'll work, but..."

"I can't! It isn't mine. Is not registered to me." Then after a moment of looking at it. "It's not registered to anybody!" Her voice grew hysteric as she said that.

"What?! Registered? I-" I cut myself off. Of course the Pieces would be registered to the Devil who's the King. Otherwise anybody could simply buy more Pieces. "I can't believe this." I said, looking down at the Nun, already dreading the state she'll be when she wakes up.

"You use it!" Rias said after a moment.

"What?! I'm human! It'll never work with me!" I answered instantly, then another idea formed in my head. "Can't you remove the Bishop from Sophie? She's already stabilized, so she should be able to survive until we figure out this mess."

Rias grimaced and looked at the impassive girl, still looking like a doll. "Yeah. That'll do for now. Sophie come here."

The girl complied without any hint of acknowledgement in her eyes, and Rias did just that. Removed the Piece from one and gave to the other. The circle with the Gremory Sigil formed below the former Sister and it began to glow.

At the same time, Sophie looked around, like she was in a daze then when she looked down at Astaroth, she started screaming and fell on her knees, hiding her head with her hands. "Please, no more. Please, I'll do anything. Please, stop. Please." Her eyes, emotionless until now, began to form tears nonstop and they fell down her face. The redhead looked at the other girl bewildered for a second, then turned on her knees and pulled the screaming girl to her chest. Sophie flinched with the contact but didn't otherwise react.

Ajuka returned at that moment, looking down at his Brother with such contempt that I think a lesser being would flinch. He opened his hands and all the Pieces that were on his hands floated between the two. "Why?" Was the only thing that left the Maou's mouth while he gritted his teeth. The wave of power, carefully leashed again a moment later was more telling than his words or his actions.

"Why what, Brother?" The boy acted honestly bewildered. Acted being the keyword. I couldn't believe that he was still trying to play innocent with all the Pieces floating in front of him. And I think neither did Ajuka.

The Maou waved his hand and the Pieces disappeared, then he extended a hand over his bound brother's frame. A second later there was a sound like the breaking of glass. "I'm removing your rights to form Peerage." Then a second later a Pawn appeared on his hand and he put it next to Astaroth's chest. A magic circle formed around the boy and the Piece conceptualized itself into him.

"What?! You can't do this!" Astaroth cried out, clearly shocked.

"I'm one of the Maous. I'm the one who created this system. And above all else, I'm your elder brother." He said, waving his hand again. "You'll be going to the Astaroth Mansion and will be retained to the dungeon until I deem that you can leave. Be happy that I don't let Emiya kill you right now, or do it myself, without leaving you a chance for explanations. I, your King, _Command_ you to remain on your cell inside he Dungeon until I go and retrieve you."

"Wha-" It was all that came from the boy before a teleportation circle appeared around him and then the chains slackened and fell down along with the dagger. I promptly dismissed them both.

"What happened?" Lord Gremory asked.

"My own brother..." The green haired man shook his head in disbelief, before turning to me. "How did you discovered this?"

"My sister." I answered him, truthfully. "And something about the glint in his eyes. Asia never calls me anything but 'Onii-chan'. She wouldn't call me Shirou, and she was acting way too different from her normal self. Whenever she's that happy about anything she'll tackle me in a hug, not simple envelope her arms around me like she did. She doesn't defer to anyone with that much reverence, not even Rias, her King. The only one who I heard her talk with such worship on her voice was God and that was when she was still human. When I saw how she was acting, I moved on instinct." I rolled my shoulders while tilting my head. "There are few things that can do that to me, and one of them is to threaten my family."

The Maou's face turned at me, trying to judge my actions but didn't say anything, because another voice cut in.

"Ajuka, could you explain what happened?" Lord Gremory asked again, and apparently he was losing his cool.

"My brother was using these altered Evil Pieces to control his Peerage. More than they were ever designed for." The Maou finally said, while waving one of the Pieces to the redhead. "There are several spells in them to control, alter, delete and even create new memories. There are other spells on them as well. I'm actually amazed that he even managed to reverse engineer the Pieces to this extent, and that he managed to cast the spells during or after the ceremony was performed. I knew he was a genius, but I never imagined the extent of his intelect." His face clouded over. "Even if he used said intelect for doing something so disgusting."

The Lord of the Gremory Clan looked troubled by that as well. "We'll have to discuss this at lenght later, Ajuka." One glimpse of the Piece and I could see the realization downing on the elder Gremory. He was present when I removed the Pieces from Riser's Peerage, after all.

The man frowned. "Yes. I'm affraid we'll have to. Right now though, I'm more worried about these ladies." He looked at the girls. "Luckily, they all have been Devils for quite some time, so there shouldn't be a problem with them stabilizing, but I can't in good conscience bring them to the Astaroth mansion."

"Or to the Underworld at all." I said, pulling both elder Devils attention. "From the profiles we read on these girls, they were all Holy Maidens. I don't know since when Astaroth had them with him, but I don't believe that they would like to live on the Underworld again for some time."

"Yes," Lord Gremory grimaced. "but we run into the same problem we had with Phenex's Pieces. They'll be considered Strays and they'll need someone to feed them Mana or they'll turn into lesser devils in short order."

"I can try and contact the Senri Clan and negotiate with them." I offered, but was cut off by Ajuka.

"No, you already did more than enough here, Emiya. Let us decide what we'll do with the girls." He said, face hard and unbending.

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to insist that whatever you decide, don't bring them to the Underworld." I too was firm on the issue.

"Father," Rias had finally managed to calm Sophie down. "I'll cover the expenses for their stay here. I'm sure we can negotiate with the Senri better than either the Astaroth or even Shirou. We do have a treaty with them."

"I can agree to that." I said after a moment.

Ajuka looked around the girls who were still on the ground unconcious, then to Rias and the older Gremory, before turning to me. "I agree as well." Then he turned to Lord Gremory, back straight and hands behind his back. "Everything that was negotiated during this trade will be offered to the Gremory Clan without anything asked in return, and we'll double the assets that were accorded during the trade, as long as those funds are used for the well being of these girls." His face hardened once again. "I'll go back now and talk to Mother."

"Very well. Thank you, Ajuka." Lord Gremory said, before shaking his hand.

"No need to thank me." He grimaced while looking around one more time, then in a burst of Prana teleported out.

Leaving the mess for us three to deal with.

* * *

I was walking back home early again today, but with a positively ecstatic Asia hanging onto my arm, and a very troubled look on my face.

The girl was happy because she didn't need to worry about Astaroth anymore and with it, she could breathe relieved that it she could just continue with her life without having to worry about this whole issue. In the end, whatever talk Ajuka had with his mother was short, because an hour later he was back on the clubroom, explaining that everything he had promised the Gremory had been arranged, but I put another stipulation for Asia to continue being part of Rias' Peerage. She was to never be traded, unless she herself requests it and the Gremorys agree to it. I made them sign a contract for it too, just to be sure.

Devils love their contracts, after all.

The troubled face I was making had actually three reasons. One was the way Asia was acting. After she woke up she hadn't let go of me for not even a second. Not even when Ise appeared on the clubroom, and that had me worried. The girl was looking at me with eyes too close to adoration for me to feel comfortable.

The second was the fact that the Senri Clan agreed to house the girls under their protection, only if they were to be kept with me. I tried to argue that I don't have room on my house for them, and even if I had, they wouldn't be able to receive the mana from the contract the other girls had with the Youkai Clan, but Ajuka said that he would solve this second part for me and that I didn't have to worry about it. Only the housing continued to be a problem. In the end, they decided, arbitrarily without me consenting to anything, to do some renovations on my house. Or to be more precise, the lot next to my house, where they would build an annex and connect to mine through a corridor. I was about to deny that, but since that came after the third reason I'm troubled with I ended up relenting.

The third part, it was the treatment Sophie had received at the hands of Astaroth, or Diodora, since Ajuka said that the boy would be banned from the Clan to the Fallen Angel's side of the Underworld after receiving his punishment from what he had done and after the Maou extracted everything he could from the younger Devil. I didn't even know that the Underworld was divided in two until this point. According to Rias, the Underworld does not have a day-night cycle, instead one side is perpetually in darkness while the other is perpetually in light of the sun the planet orbits. I have no idea how it isn't just molten lava on one side and endless ice on the other, so I'll chalk it up to another curveball this dimension has thrown my way.

Anyway, the problem was the tale that Sophie had told to me, Rias and Ajuka, while Lord Gremory had drafted the rest of Rias' Peerage to take care of the girls, bring them inside and put them on more comfortable positions, since they still hadn't woken up. When I first heard that Diodora was bringing Holy Maidens to his Peerage I thought that maybe it was his way of weakening his enemies while strenghtening his own powerbase, but the answer was actually worse than that. Apparently the boy would seduce the girls, making them fall from grace, even before turning them. They were used as his sextoys and passed around among his friends in debauchery parties that demeaned the girls even further until they had nothing left to offer and then, and only after they were throughly degraded, they would turn them.

It was the kind of thing I expected from Devils, actually, before I met Rias and Shitori and their groups. Before I came to this dimension, in fact. The girls were all devout on their faith in God, and after suffering for who knows how long in the hands of that bastard the final nail in the coffin was being turned into Devils, beings that wouldn't ever be able to see the light of salvation. Worse still, robbed them of their last bastion, their free will.

During the whole time we were talking, my temper flared more than once, and I unconsciously traced Kanshou and Bakuya at least twice. Thankfully, both times my hands were below the table and I dismissed both blades immediately. I didn't want to frighten the girl but just imagining what that bastard was intending to do with Asia got my blood to boil. Ajuka was listening to the whole thing almost clinically. He always thought that the girls who followed his brother were all devoted to him because of him being who he was, not because of the Pieces or what he had done.

In the end it was decided that all the girls would be staying with me, with me receiving the stipend from the Senri Clan, while they in turn would receive payment from the Gremory Clan who in turn would be using assets from the Astaroth Clan. It was way more confusing that I expected, but the Devils all agreed to it quite easily.

Anyway, because of all the suffering the girls went through, and the fact that they were Holy Maidens before being turned, Asia would be the best to have on hand to help them transition and accept their new lives. And since Asia was living with me, I accepted to help them with the whole issue. I have no doubt that at least one of them will try to kill herself, and I hope to be able to talk her out of it, whoever she may be. My house will become quite lively, but I have no idea what I'll do with all of them.

I can't simply ask Shitori to enroll them on the school. Some of them are older than my apparent age, after all. At least two of them are over fifty. The boy in the end was older than he looked. Diodora was actually a hundred and sixty years old. The girls that are actually their apparent age number only eight, and I still didn't even knew their names.

What they will do during the day, when I'm at school, I have no idea.

I toyed with the idea of simply stop going to school altogether, since I already had what I wanted from there, but in the end I couldn't be sure that my butchered spell was working and had to leave the option to go back to those Tomes if the need arises open. But in the meantime, the girls are going to be left to their own devices which can't be good.

Another tidbit that came out of the left field and still has me going nuts over it. All the girls that came to me from the Senri Clan will be part of the Emiya household. The so called Emiya family will be a branch family of the Senri Clan, so that they could continue to enjoy the Youkai protection even after they left their strongholds on Hokuriku. After trying and failing to put my foot down against that idea, the only concession I managed to make was that I wouldn't sign anything about it.

No way I'm signing contracts on this world anymore.

Not to mention that I'm creating more and more chains around my neck without even meaning to. How in the world will these people live once I'm out of here, I have no clue. I'm going back to my dimension someday, and I just hope that in the meantime I could help them enough for them to get back on their feet and be able to live on their own afterwards. They were Devils that spent who knows how long being controlled after experiencing such an horrific fate before being turned.

Another frown came to my face as I thought on the issue. I mean, my home became a halfway house for Strays overnight. I know I'm part of the reason because they are Strays but that doesn't make sense. Rias and Shitori live in this city. It's their territory. They should be able to take better care of the girls than me, a human.

A tug on my arm made me realize that while my mind was swirling with these thoughts I almost passed right in front the house and continued down the street. Asia was still drapped all over my arm, but she was no longer beaming like before. She had a cute pout on her face as she looked up at me. "Mou, Onii-chan, you didn't listen to a word I said, did you?"

I peered down at her apologetically. "Sorry, Asia. Too much on my mind today. What is it?" I asked while opening the gate.

"Humpf" She continued to pout, and crossed her arms over her chest, which was awkward as hell because she hadn't let go of my arm to make the movement. "Nothing~ If you have other things to think about that don't involve me you don't need to pay attention."

I gaped at the willful way that the blonde was acting. Asia was getting more assertive with time, but never like this. Was some leftover of the spells Diodora used still lingering on the girl? "Asia, maybe it would be better if I stabbed you again." I mean, something was definitely wrong with her. I should be allowed some grade of skepticism, right?

"What to you mean _again_?" She asked, taking a step back, but still holding on to my sleeve.

"Nothing. Never mind. What was it that you wanted anyway?" I glanced at her again, through the corner of my eyes as we made our way inside the house.

"I said, 'What you want for dinner tonight' because I want to cook alone tonight. Akeno-san already did it twice, and today was supposed to our day to do it together."

"Oh," I nodded. "Then why don't you surprise me?" I said, trying to sidestep the issue. I have no idea what she can cook in the first place. Then Karlamine's... _incident_... came back to mind and I decided to play it safe. "I think pasta would be good." It's easy to make and since she came from the Vatican, in the middle of Italy, I think its a safe bet that she can cook it well enough without endangering my kitchen.

The smile she threw my was as bright as the sunshine that in the end didn't appear during the whole day today. "Okay!" And finally let go of my arm and darted inside the house to her room.

I threw my head form side to side at the antics, then went to my room and dropped my schoolbag and got a change out of the uniform. While passing in front of her door, I called out to the blonde warning her that I would be on my workshop until later.

It wasn't until after dinner, when Asia and I were on the living room, with her doing her best to copy today's lessons from Karlamine that she missed, that I gathered the courage to ask her what was like while she was under the influence of the spells.

"It was strange, like my world revolved around him." She shivered at the memory. "And like there was someone talking with my voice and my body, but it wasn't what I wanted to say exactly. I remember wanting to..." She blushed scarlet at that point and didn't continue. She was sitting between my legs while I was sitting on the couch and she on the floor at the table.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then don't." I said to the girl, while patting her head. She leaned in on my hand as I did that.

"I remember wanting to sleep with him." She said in a small voice. "Wanting him to... do things... with me."

I clenched the hand that wasn't on her head. Why is it that almost every Devil I come across that isn't already part of the Gremory or Shitori, or Sitri rather, Clans is a hit and miss? I mean, from the Phenex Clan, Riser was a douchebag but Lord Phenex and Ravel seemed okay. And now the Astaroth. I continued to try and get my mind around the fact they were Devils, creatures said to be evil incarnate, but interacting with the ones around me was hard for me to make that call. They did things that were questionable, sure, but weren't worse than some of the things Magi did for their experiments. Even what Diodora did, loathe as I am to admit, was pretty tame when compared to the research some Sealing Designees I had to hunt did.

I was about to tell her to forget about it, but didn't. "Don't dwell on this." I suggested for her. "You won't be able to forget, but don't dwell on it. Those weren't your desires, if that is what you are thinking about. According to Ajuka, those spells didn't do something like bring out hidden inclinations or some such. They were made to control a Devil, on the most fundamental level. If you are still in doubt, stop, relax and think deeply about it. Whatever your reaction is to that is your real self, not the fabrication."

She leaned back on my legs, and put her head on my knees to look at me upside down. "Do you really think so?"

"To be honest, I don't have any way of be sure about this, but it's worth a try, don't you think?" I smiled down at her again, and she went back to look over the notes. At this moment, Akeno left the kitchen and sat beside me on the couch.

The whole incident happened without any of the rest of Rias' Peerage present, though I'm sure that the redhead must have explained things for them after I left with Asia in tow. Literally. The brunette only gazed at me for a moment before greeting me as she got home together with Karlamine. "I'll think about it." The blonde said after a moment.

Then silence fell between the three of us. I was thinking on using this time to talk to Akeno about the spells that I could teach her, but decided against it in the end. Asia would want to accompany us, and without Rias learning how to trigger her own circuits, I would have to do the lesson again, and that wouldn't be fair to the redhead. I actually had no more reasons to teach them anything, since I managed to create the spell on my own, but to do it halfway as that would be tantamount to what Kiritsugu did to me, even if in his case was because he died. Well, when I leave, it'll be like I died here too, so the situation might turn out that way as well.

"I hear that you'll be participating in the Archery Tournament." The brunette mentioned out of the blue, breaking me out of my musings, while lying down on the couch with her head on my thigh.

The blonde instantly stopped whatever she was doing in order to turn around and look at me. "Is that true?"

I gave them a wry smile, and nodded. "Yeah. Apparently one of the competitors broke his leg and they don't have replacements on competition level."

"Which means that Onii-sama is at competition level." The Shrine Maiden smirked. "Actually, considering what Kaichou said, he's better than that."

Asia's eyes glimmered. "Really?"

"Yeah." The brunette answered. "You should see her face when she was describing the way he was shooting the arrows on the range earlier today."

"Wow!" The eyes. By Zelretch's fake beard, the eyes. Don't look at me with those eyes. I'll turn into a blubbering mess.

Akeno continued to smirk at me. "When is the competition?" If Shitori had told them about that, it was obvious that she had told the dates as well. What was she planning?

"In a month." I said grimacing at the inevitable. The girls were two-teaming me, Asia unwittingly an agent for the brunette's teasing.

"Wow! Are you going to be training then?" The blonde asked a moment later. "If so I want to watch!"

"Sorry, but one of the conditions I made was that I wouldn't be training with anybody." I poked her forehead. "Even Shitori said that they aren't expecting to win the tournament, just to participate and not be eliminated early."

Her eyes crossed looking at the tip of my finger for a moment and deflated at my declaration. "But we can go to the tournament, right?"

"No idea, to be honest." I answered looking down at the other girl. "Do you?"

"No. Never saw an Archery Tournament before. Isn't necessary to be silent like during a Tennis match or something?" She said, while squirming around, trying to find a better position for her legs.

"I... Have no idea." Frowning I thought about it. "I never participated on one." Then looked back up to the ceiling. "I think I'll have to go to the Dojo tomorrow and learn at least that much. I don't even know if there's a code of conduct to it or not."

"Why didn't you ever participated in a competition? Or did you picked up Kyudo after you were already done with school?" The brunette asked.

"No..." I sighed. "There were some... unsavory things happening at the time with the Archery Club and I left..." I closed my eyes. "Not that it would help me in any way to continue doing Kyudo."

"What do you mean, Onii-chan?" The blonde's voice was puzzled. "You weren't as good then?"

"No. I was as good then as I am now." I answered her, trying hard to not think about that time of my life when everything was still as close to idyllic as my life has ever been.

"Then why?"

"Because there was no room for improvement anymore... I have a hundred percent accuracy with a bow and arrow."

"But-"

"Asia, think about it. What use would I have to continue doing something that I'll never improve? Or better saying, that I already improved beyond what others would call normal? My time would be better used in other things, and at the time I was just starting with Magecraft, so I felt that my time was better used in other things. Not to mention that even then, I still use the Kyudo kata as a meditation method. So it isn't like I still don't practice."

She seemed downhearted. "I see..."

"Humm..." The brunette hummed absently beside me, but whatever she was about to say after fell on deaf ears, when the door bell rung.

I looked at the clock along with Akeno. It wasn't actually that late, at least compared when Diodora appeared on our doorstep, but it was close to bedtime already. "Who could it be?" I asked the air.

"It isn't a Devil?" The brunette's query almost went unanswered, because I was getting up and didn't hear her until she repeated the question.

"No. Whoever it is, doesn't have a magical signature." I frowned, recalling the Hero Faction. They have been surprisingly quiet after the first time they attacked me.

"Do you want us to..." The blonde asked, but I waved her down.

"I'll get it." I said. "Wait here though, and don't open for anybody that you don't know." I walked to the door and exited the house.

Getting to the gate, a face that I thought I would never see again was there. "Good evening. Is this the residence of Emiya Shirou-dono?"

His voice was the same, his build was the same, even his glasses were the same, but the face behind the glasses didn't have the same impassivity and stoicism that I was used to. "Yes. What can I help you with?" Still, I almost traced Kanshou and Bakuya to attack him.

I only didn't because I knew this couldn't be him. For one, he died during the Grail War, so this Kuzuki Souichirou wasn't the same in my dimension. "I'm sorry for coming at such late hour, but Senri-sama informed us that we should talk with you before starting any renovations around the house. Since we'll be starting early tomorrow morning I thought it would be better to inform you of such."

"Are you one of Marlianna-san's Servants?" I was still reeling from the fact that my old Social Studies teacher in this world, apparently not having been raised to be an assassin like he did on mine, was on my doorstep. The way he acted, the politeness of his gestures and body language, and the way he defered to me were all sending alarm bells through my mind.

"Why, yes. I'm Kuzuki Souichirou, the head butler for Senri-sama. We'll be imposing on you for tomorrow as we build the annex as requested." He bowed to me one more time. Even the name was the same? Was this his real given name then?

I palmed my face to hide a grimace. "Okay. Tell your people to come here tomorrow morning before I leave for school. I need to key them to the boundaries of the house."

"Yes, that won't be a problem." He took a step backwards. "Have a good evening, Emiya-dono."

"Just a question." I blurted out before he left. "Are you a Nekomata as well?" I asked, despite not feeling any kind of magical signature coming from the man.

"Oh, no. I was raised by the Senri Clan, but am not part of it. Is there anything else?" He asked.

"No." I said a little too quickly. "No. Have a good night, Kuzuki-san."

I watched the man walking until he was out of sight at the corner, in the same position I had watched Diodora before, but the feelings were completely different. For one, when Marlianna-san talked about her servants, I didn't have a face to put on them, but to think Kuzuki-sensei was one of them shook me. Coincidences aside, what are the odds of the man becoming a butler on this universe, and that I ended up having dealings with his boss? Worse, wasn't the Senri Clan form Hokuriku? It was even more unlikely that I would ran into him here, on Kuoh Town.

I walked back inside, still thinking about this when both Akeno and Asia asked me who it was. "Marlianna-san's butler. He isn't keyed to the Boundary Fields around the house so Marlianna-san said that he should come here and talk to me before starting the renovations."

"Renovations?" Asia asked, confused.

"Oh, yeah. You were asleep for that part. All the girls on Diodora's Peerage will be coming to live with us, but we don't have room for it. The Astaroth Clan will pay the Gremory Clan who'll pay to the Senri Clan to build an annex in the lot next door and connect it to the house." I explained to the clueless blonde. "And you'll have a big part on that too."

"Me?" The blonde blinked, even more confused. I took the time to explain for her my reasoning and why the girls will live here. Also why she should be able to help her fellow ex-Holy Maidens with the transition, since nowadays Asia barely, if ever, prayed to the Lord and took the backlash. If these girls and women that are coming are anything like Asia was at the beginning, they too will try and pray, only to receive the retribution too. The house will be a lot more populated in a few days.

And I still have no idea what I'll do with them.


	6. An Unwilling Caretaker

A/N: Don't own anything

* * *

 **Chapter 6**

 **An Unwilling Caretaker**

* * *

The next few days were a flurry of activity. The annex that was built, contrary to what I was expecting, turned out to be a lot bigger than I could have imagined. In fact, they didn't built an _annex_ they built a freaking dormitory, complete with a dining hall big enough to house almost forty people, a big communal bath, a common area lined with couches and tables for studies, and thirty rooms all distributed through two of the three stories of the place. Officially it would be called Kuoh Academy's Offsite Dormitory, but it was actually just to throw off the real reason for the building to have sprung up out of nowhere on the neighborhood. Even then Rias, had insisted for me to make cards naming me as the caretaker of the place.

Another thing that I discovered later was that the three girls from Riser's Peerage, Mihae, Xuelan and Marion, would start living with us too. I was starting to feel a little intimidated by all those people coming. I mean, I liked when my house was full, but this was ridiculous. And I was supposed to find Kings for them too, if they wanted.

No one had the decency of explain for me the _how_ tough.

Rias decided to take upon herself to transfer all the girls that were willing to the school, which in the end were all of them. In the next few days Kuoh Academy would receive eighteen new transfer students, eight first years, seven second years, three third years. I was thinking that it was too soon for most of them to start to try and blend in with society, but Marlianna-san had guaranteed me that they would be fine, and the new environment would be good for them to feel some kind of normalcy in their lives after the whole thing. Using their apparent age as a way for them to be able to actually go to school.

It was a good thing that most of the girls on Diodora's Peerage didn't appear older than they really were, because there was a lot for them to catch up with today's society. Thankfully, apart from Sophie, none of the girls had memories of their time receiving the Devil's ministrations before being turned themselves. Diodora probably erased those memories from them for whatever reason. It worked to our advantage in that case. If they don't remember, they won't dwell so much on their own suffering and won't have to pass years on therapy.

I still don't know if there's even such a thing on the Underworld.

Anyway, I'm still leery with the development. I have no idea how I'll react to them, or them to me, but I feel that just having a place for them to live and take care of them shouldn't be enough. They were broken in more ways than one, even if they don't remember, so I should do something about it. It's just that I don't know if I'm the most capable person to actually do that to anybody. I mean, I'm broken myself, and have been for almost all my life, ever since the fire.

Thinking on the fire brought me memories of the Grail War, which brought back the memory that I had encountered Kuzuki-sensei again. If he was still alive in this dimension, would others be too? Would Illya even exist since she was a construct of the Einzberns? Would Kotomine be part of the Church here too? What about Rin and Sakura? Fuji-nee? Too many people I met during my life, and I have no idea if meeting them would be a good idea. Except maybe for Rin. If I could convince the Rin from this universe to help me, maybe I could calibrate the spell to send a signal directly to my Rin. But before I did that, I should first find her.

Another worrying thought occurred me then. If the Rin of this universe had the same latent magical power, then she could have already been recruited into a Peerage of some Devil, or maybe by the Hero Faction? What if she had a Sacred Gear in this universe? Even more likely that she would be on one of the groups. And Sakura? The girl had even more raw mana processing capabilities than Rin, although that was before we managed to purge the Grail Shards from her body. But Sakura had been adopted by the Matou exactly because she had potential on par with Rin herself.

At the moment I was walking to school, with all these thoughts swirling around my head, that I didn't realize that at some point during the walk Akeno had joined me, while Koneko and Asia kept going in front of us. Looking over the Shrine Maiden, I recalled that Rias had finally discovered her trigger too. Apparently when she activated her Circuits, her Power of Destruction flared to such a extent that she created a hole on her bed and the floor beneath the bed, falling down from the second floor onto the bathroom on the floor below, while Ise was inside, no less. When I asked her what was her trigger she blushed up to the roots of her hair and didn't answer.

Anyway, now that they both knew what their triggers were, I could start them on basic Structural Analysis and control of the Circuits.

Rias already knew basic projection with the crash course I had with her during training camp, otherwise she wouldn't be able to use my blueprints during the Rating Game. Tracing needs the Unlimited Blade Works to work, after all. She only could use my blueprints because we were connected through our Souls at the time, and my Reality Marble is the projection of my own Soul on the world.

Speaking of it, I hadn't called Unlimited Blade Works once after coming here. Granted, I was at a stage that I could hold the Reality Marble only for about a minute, but that was back on my world. Would I be able to hold it longer here? My Aria hasn't changed ever since I defeated Gilgamesh, but it took me years to develop enough to be able to call upon it without having Rin to do the heavy lifting for me.

Walking beside me, Akeno continued on her silent vigil without saying anything. It was nice to have her company nowadays, almost like it was with Sakura during my first time through High School. The Shrine Maiden had become staple of my life as much as Asia, and she still hasn't said anything about me not following through with my promise to tear down her Temple. I discovered later, offhandedly, that the land where the Shrine was built was owned by the Gremorys and they didn't have any intention of reforming the place too. I even asked her and Asia why was that they were still living with me if Rias had built a literal mansion over the Hyoudou household to hold all the members of her Peerage, including the ones that she still didn't have.

The brunette only smiled teasingly at me, but Asia turned on her weapons on me at full power. By that I mean, her big doed green eyes, trembling lips and generally looking like a puppy who was being scolded and was afraid that it would be kicked out of the house. It took all my self control not to grab the former Sister and dash to the nearest ice cream vendor.

In the end I didn't receive a forthcoming answer from either of them.

The moment I entered the school, one of the girls of the Archery Club appeared in front of me. "Emiya-Sempai. Captain wants to talk with you. Could you come to the range after school?"

I looked puzzled to the girl, who seemed to be trembling while talking to me, before nodding. "Sure. I'll pass by there."

It wasn't like I had really much to do today anyway. Unless Shitori found another faulty equipment that needed looking over. Speaking of Shitori, her Peerage had come a long way in the time I had spent with them, and now instead of two times a week, I only participated once every two weeks on their exercises. They wanted a rematch with me at some point, apparently, but I steadfastly refused. I wouldn't be able to do anything now that they were aware of my capabilities without killing or disabling them permanently. They all have come a long way in being able to change between mindsets too, one for everyday life and other for combat. It was astonishing really, so fast they grew, that I couldn't help but think that maybe Shitori had done something without telling me.

"Thank you." The girl bowed to me and scurried off, to join a group of other girls that were looking at her awed.

I turned to Akeno to ask about the rumors about me around school, but decided against it. She really might tell me if I ask and that's scarier than stay in the dark. The brunette looked at me quizzically then turned back to the front, continuing her walk. I sighed heavily at whatever was the latest gossip I was on the center of and continued to class.

Just to throw a monkey wrench on my plans, Shitori actually did found a heater on the Arts Class Room that needed fixing and came to me during lunch break. After looking over the appliance and declaring it dead, since the insulation was broken in such a way that couldn't be repaired quickly and it was leaking the fluid from the radiator, I removed the thing and hauled it to storeroom on the first floor.

I was walking to the Archery Dojo after that when my senses were washed over by a scent that I hadn't felt in almost ten years. Immediately I rushed to the place only to find that the owner of the scent was walking away from the building and in my direction. I stopped in my tracks, studying the man with narrowed eyes. He was wearing a gray tracksuit with some symbol on the left side of his chest and white running shoes. His build was different, and didn't had as much muscle as me, nor did he had the permanent condescending smirk on his face, but the face was a perfect replica, as was the white hair.

When he was passing by me, he looked startled for a second, but then nodded his head in greeting and continued past me in the direction of the main building of the school. He stopped when I said. "Archer."

Turning around and looking at me quizzically he answered. "Why, yes. I'm an Archer. And you would be?"

It was another blow to me in so many days. I often thought about the other counterpart of me that should live in this universe, but didn't expect to actually find him. Or for him to find me, as was the case. Couldn't he sense me, like I could him?

"Emiya Shirou." I answered him curtly. The logical part of my mind was screaming to be polite to the man, that since the world hasn't folded itself already in a paradox it wouldn't happen, but his appearance and smell was so much like Archer's that I couldn't stop scowling at the man. So I decided to cut the meeting short, bowed to him, turned my back and continued on the direction of the Archery Dojo. He continued on the same spot for a few more seconds before resuming his walk towards the main building. I refused to look back, trying to pick him only with my metaphysical sense of smell.

When I finally reached the door, the Captain of the Archery Club, a third year girl that I couldn't recall the name for the life of me came to greet me, but before she could get a word in I asked just as rudely as I had introduced myself to 'Archer'. "Who was that man?"

The girl was taken aback by the scowl on my face. "Wh-Wh-What? Who?"

"The guy with white hair that just left." I gritted out.

Her dark eyes finally made the connection and she answered dutifully, still looking somewhat cowed by me. "That was the Advisor for one of the schools that will come to the competition."

My head whipped back to where the man was but he was already gone from my line of sight. "That school... Is in the Prefecture?"

"Yes. Though is kinda far." She informed me and when I didn't turn back to her or moved from my spot she asked. "Anyway, Emiya-san, I don't know what is your history with-" She cut herself off, then shook her head. "No forget it. Not my place to say anything. I wanted to talk to you about the training exercises we're going to have to do. I know that you said you wouldn't participate but it would be good to have all the complete team here during it, so we could decide the order. Do you think you could come just this once, please?" She put both hands in front of her face, while bowing to me and closing both eyes.

I forced myself to relax, letting the tension out of my shoulder as I turned to her. "Sure, but how much time that would take? I have other duties at home that can't be postponed."

"No problem. No problem." She waved both hands in front of her. "Just take your shots along with the others. We'll decide it by points who's going when."

After the mini competition with the others, I was so out of it by my counterpart appearing in front of me that I forgot to _miss_ some of my shots. I ended up with two perfect scores, and the Captain almost begging me to take part on the Individual Competition instead of the team one. That was something I wouldn't do. I didn't let them continue long with their pleading, leaving the Dojo and the school altogether in order to hide in the safety of my workshop at home.

In all the commotion, I forgot to ask about details about my counterpart, including his name. It finally dawned on me that maybe I would finally be able to discover what was my birth name. Not that it was something that I ever thought about it too much, but it was one small curiosity that I had for years.

He was a teacher? And an Advisor for the Archery Club? Had this other me followed the footsteps of Fuji-nee? Had he even met Fuji-nee? There were so many questions unanswered with just the confirmation that yes, there was really a counterpart for me alive in this dimension that I didn't know what to do. Was a good idea for us to be seen together? The Hero Faction might appear to attack him thinking he was my brother or cousin. Or go after his family after I disappear? Just by continuing to live on this dimension I might be dooming him indirectly. Does he have a wife here? And who it was? Any of the girls I met and anyone I didn't, could be her. Or he could live alone too. Or, hell, he could have a husband or a boyfriend for all I know.

But if he existed here, maybe the theory about Rin existing as well wasn't so farfetched. Maybe I could cash in on a favor from Shitori or Rias and have them investigate it for me. My counterpart may not be aware of magic, but he had a magical signature. Granted, maybe I only picked his signature because it was so close to my own and Archer's, but he had it. Then if Rin existed, she probably would have one too. The problem would be to convince a strange woman to let me experiment on her. Just thinking about it makes me grimace in frustration.

I was thinking like a Magus, like she always told me I should, but I didn't like to think that way. At home, she was the brains of our little outfit and I was the muscle. My research generally revolved around better ways to increase my combat potential while she was the one who liked to think about concepts and possibilities, then experiment based on her assumptions on the subject to either confirm or deny her assumptions. Like a scientist, really.

But her Magecraft was so diverse and she studied so many schools of magic at the same time that I often wondered how she didn't get lost herself. I can only use well what I learned when I was little and built everything on top of that. The speed of my tracing, the range where I could make swords appear around me, the quality of the blades traced, the limits of the Reinforcement I could reach with my body and the Alterations I could do with the weapons I traced, the Mystic Codes I could trace. I had some success in Tracing weapons already Altered to be more aerodynamic for firing with a bow, and Tracing Mystic Codes that weren't actual blades, but little else.

My workshop back home was shared with Rin only because of practicality, really. I only needed empty space to practice, taking as few notes as possible. I only avoided a Sealing Designation in the past because no one could prove that I had a Reality Marble in the first place. Since I never took any notes in anything related to Unlimited Blade Works, the Lords only had the words of a dying Enforcer who witnessed me summoning it to defeat a particularly nasty Dead Apostle during the time I was still with the Clock Tower alongside Rin. After that episode I moved back home, just so I wouldn't slip up again and really be slapped with the Sealing Designation.

The Lords weren't very happy with that. The Enforcer that died was the only witness they had, and since they were the words of a dying man, Rin chalked it up to delirium and no one could claim otherwise. She never let me hear the end of it after she did that. We spent three years being scrutinized by every Magus that as much as passed through Fuyuki City for a few hours. In the end they contented themselves with sending me into dangerous hunts and hoping that it would be enough to make me slip up again. Since I never leave notes lying around, they couldn't know that when I summon my Marble no one but who I choose can enter it.

And generally anything that entered with me was dead before I let it down again. When asked, I refused to answer about my mysteries. That was the lifeline of every Magus, after all. No one could question my Mysteries if I didn't deem to enlighten them by choice. My house was still under surveillance to this day. They must have thought that I didn't knew about their familiars perched on trees all around the fence or under the ground, but I spent too much time on the battlefield not to realize when something was watching me. At least they never made inside the workshop inside the limits of the house.

My house... The thought came unbidden and I couldn't stop recalling all that happened there. Fuji-nee's antics whenever she was around. If there was one thing about Fuji-nee was that if she didn't like something, she wasn't afraid to make it perfectly clear, such was the time that I gullibly asked her if she was dating or even had dated anyone since High School. She went into a spiel that took hours to end, and only because I managed to pour enough alcohol in her system to make her pass out. In the meantime I had to hear she talking about how and why she wasn't a Christmas cake and she was still on her prime and she could get anyone she wanted if she wanted.

Needless to say, I never again brought the subject up.

Thinking about Fuji-nee, Sakura's face also came to mind. The calm and collected way she acted during High School, the way she practically lived on my house, getting there so early that sometimes she was the one who woke me up, and leaving so late at night that I had to accompany her home more times than I could count. Her scolding sessions too were legendary. For someone who appeared to be meek, she could be quite willful when it came to things that she wanted very much, and those generally meant things about me doing something stupid in her eyes, or when she wanted to use the kitchen alone. It's still a sore point for me that I didn't realize that the reason she spent so much time at my house was because she didn't want to go home, or more precisely, she didn't want to go back to dungeon that was Zouken's workshop and all those worm-like familiars that did things that shouldn't be done to another, let alone a little girl that she was when she began receiving that treatment. If she had been a Matou by blood and being prepared for it from birth, I wouldn't say anything since that was the style of Magecraft that the Matou used, but what Zouken did had nothing to do with the Matou line. He wanted a vessel for the energy of the Servants defeated during the Grail War to be used in lieu of the Grail created by the Einzberns. One of the things that I regret the most really.

I'm glad that we managed to destroy the old worm in the end.

The Grail War. Archer. The man I met today wasn't Archer in any way. He was just a normal human who had an above average magical presence. Archer was... Archer was broken, after a lifetime of battles in the name of the ideal we shared, he lived his whole life with his head held high and going from place to place, saving as many people as he could, gladly giving up his humanity to continue doing that work. And in the end it broke him.

More than once I thought that I was treading the same path as him, and more than once I decided to change, and create my own future. But an Ideal is something hard to change, something that defined the existence known as 'Emiya Shirou'. Saving people is what I am, but it was what Archer was too. I was going in circles with that. I couldn't deny myself, not after so long living the way I lived, but I didn't want to turn into the cynical and bitter man that he became. I could only change little things, like instead of traveling around the world going from battlefield to battlefield like he did, I was going back home every time, to remind myself what I was trying to fight for, why I was trying to save as many people as possible.

Out of nowhere, I found myself hearing a soft humming sound, that was relaxing and melancholic at the same time. I must have fallen asleep at some point during my musings, but that didn't answer where the melodic humming was coming from. Actually, now that my brain was coming back from the stupor of the half asleep state I had been I realized that my head was resting on something soft and there were two hands framing my face, as if holding it in place.

Opening my eyes all I could see was the gloominess that was inside my workshop, with barely a flash of light coming from the open door, illuminating barely a few feet inside the room, while above me, I could feel the presence of someone.

"Awake?" The humming stopped, and the unmistakable voice of the Shrine Maiden came from the darkness.

"Didn't even realize that I had fallen asleep, really." Answering the darkness was kind of awkward, but I did anyway.

She hummed once again. "What happened?" She asked in the same tone I was used to hear when she was trying to help people in her persona as one of the Great Onee-sama's of Kuoh. "You were restless and muttering."

"Muttering?" I arched an eyebrow. "Did you heard anything?"

"Hmmm... I think there something about an archer, then something about the Grail War, and a name, I think." She paused, maybe judging my expression. One of the things that amaze me is that Devils don't need any source of light to see. "Sakura." The mention of the girl made my face fall.

"I see." I closed my eyes again, breathing deeply, but when I tried to get up from her thighs, she held my head in place.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The girl asked.

"Not really." The answer came with a grimace. "It's just that for you to understand the reason, I would have to go into explanation after explanation and we would be here until morning."

I left that opening purposefully for her to tease me and give me a reason to change the subject, but the girl surprised me. "If you say so." She let go of my head and I sat up with my back to her. "Just remember, we'll always be here for you, Shirou. The same way you've been for us."

I closed my eyes again, and thought about it for a moment. "My ideals." I finally settled. "You remember when I explained about my ideals?" She hummed on acknowledgement but didn't say anything, prompting me to continue. "I met a person, during the War, that had the same ideals... But it broke him, utterly and completely, to the point where he wanted the Grail to undo his whole life." I paused, thinking back on it. "I'm afraid I'm going down the same path as him."

"What do you mean?" Again she prompted.

"The being known as 'Emiya Shirou' can't live without 'saving people'. Its ingrained in such a way in my mind that I can't really think of a way to live without doing that." I sighed and lifted my body, leaving my back to her. "But that was what broke him in the end." I laughed sardonically. "See? I'm going in circles."

I felt her hand on my back but she didn't say anything else. We spent the next few minutes in silence inside the workshop, until I heard her humming once again the same melody as before.

* * *

"You can't be serious." It was all that came out of my mouth for the green haired Maou when he opened the case he had brought with him and presented for me.

Today was Sunday and the girls were finally settling in on the dormitory. They had decided, before they had even here, that they would do the chores on the building, dividing among themselves, and only really bother me for things that they couldn't do or didn't know how. All of them formed somehow a close knit family without any of my input. Apart from Sophie, not one of them knew that I had played a part in freeing them from Diodora, and that was completely fine by me. I was hoping that for them I was going to be just the administrator of the place.

"I am." He answered with a grin forming in his face.

"And how would that even work?" I asked looking over the set of Evil Pieces inside the case. "I'm not a Devil!"

The man just chuckled as I stated the obvious for him. The idea that he had come up with for me to be able to keep the girls on the human world without them been considered Strays and without them signing a contract with the Senri Clan was pretty simple.

I would be their King.

"How am I going to provide them with Mana?!" I continued. "I don't have enough reserves to basically have fifteen contracts active at all times."

"That's where this Piece comes into play." He finally let his smile fall a little as he showed the piece.

"A King Piece?" It was the first time that I actually saw a King Evil Piece. "I thought that those didn't exist."

"Officially, they don't." He began to explain, passing a hand over his hair. We were currently sitting on my living room, with my other three housemates helping the former Holy Maidens on their move into the dormitory. "In the beginning, when I designed the Evil Pieces, they were a complete set, with the King included, but the King Piece was too powerful. It could drive a Devil mad with the power they hold, so I created the monument down on the Underworld for the new Kings and confiscated all the King Pieces, at least, that was the intention. There are some still on unaccounted for, but that does not matter to our conversation. These Evil Pieces, are all linked to this King Piece. The piece itself will gather mana and distribute for the girls, grounding them until and if they find a new King for them to serve."

My frown deepened. "But if this King Piece can gather mana by itself, why do I need to hold on to it? Can't it be left somewhere safe?"

He shook his head. "No. Unfortunately, a King is needed on a Peerage. If someone who isn't aware of the situation, finds them and recognize that they have a Piece but can't locate their King, is the same as if they were Strays in the first place. This Piece will resonate with you, and any Devil who meets them will recognize the connection with you and see you as their King. Of course, it could cause problems since you are human, these Devils could try and steal the Piece from you."

"I still don't understand why _I_ need to be the King. Can't any of them be the King, or maybe one of the girls that live with me?"

Again a shake of his head. "No. Only High-Class Devils are given the right to Peerage. If I give Evil Pieces to a Low or even Mid-Class Devil, you can imagine the uproar. Since I'm giving to a human it will be instantly recognizable as a special case and the matter will be dropped. You have the authorization of not only me, but all the Maous to maintain the Peerage for as long as you see fit. Of course, you can't participate in official Rating Games but the Pieces have all their attributes like normal. A Rook will have augmented defense, a Knight will have increased speed, and so on."

"But what happens to me? I won't become a Devil." I said with finality. Hell, I'm already thinking about things as if I had accepted this craziness.

"That won't happen. The King Piece was created for High-Class Devils to control the rest of their Peerage. They don't have the transmutation spell imbued in them, since the King Piece itself is needed for it to work. A King can't use another King Piece and without his own King Piece he couldn't use his other Pieces. So there was no need to imbue the King Pieces with the Reincarnation ritual. You can check the Piece if you like, but I assure you, you'll continue to be human." His mouth contorted to the side. "But there is a problem that I couldn't get around in time." He stopped there while looking at me, as if studying me.

"What?" What's more than basically giving me fifteen people to take care of using this thing.

"The King Piece is the strongest one, as I said before, and it inspires the most loyalty. Basically, they'll be more loyal to you than a normal Reincarnated Devil would be under normal circumstances." He continued, still scrutinizing me.

I returned his look with one of disbelief. "Ajuka, we just freed these girls from one person who forced loyalty on them, and now you want me to do the same thing to them again?"

He held my gaze for a few seconds before letting out a defeated sigh. "Yes. The only other ways for them to not be hunted down would be for them to live on the Underworld as free Devils or to form a contract with someone on the human world. Since they spent so much time under my brother's influence, I doubt that they even know how to make a contract, and since they were turned while they were prisoners on the Underworld, they don't want the first option either. This is the lesser of two evils in the end. It's only temporary tough. Just until they find new Kings or decide to come to the Underworld or I manage to correct the King Piece."

"They would be loyal to me to almost a fanatic degree!" I shouted at the man, still disbelieving in what he was saying. "There's no way that they would want to find another King or live on the Underworld away from me if that was the case."

"I know that already. Why do you think I'm so conflicted in offering this to you?" The tone of his voice actually made me pause. "I put as many safeguards on it as I could, but that was one thing I couldn't remove because the mana transfer is directly linked to the loyalty. The more loyal they are the stronger they are, consequently receiving more mana." He leaned back again. "It's just until I can reverse engineer it and remove that."

"Wait, weren't you the one who created the Pieces? How can you _not know_ how to remove that?"

"I created them, but all the King Pieces that are in my possession right now are Mutated Pieces. They became basically a Black Box that I can't tamper with without destroying them. If I manage to either disassemble one or get a hold of one of the Pieces still not Mutated, then I can do more, but right now all I could do was connect the rest of the set to this King Piece." He grumbled, clearly frustrated. "I thought it would be easy, but in the end it wasn't. I just need more time and this is a stopgap measure until I figure out how to do it."

I fell back on the couch, still shellshocked. Apparently I'll not be only the Administrator of their dormitory as I thought. How many chains I'll noose myself into before I go home? Or for that matter, how will they survive after I go?

"They are all aware of everything we talked here." My head snapped up. "I explained for them all the options they had, and they all decided to come here."

I looked at him with something akin to dread creeping up in my spine until I let a defeated sigh. "What about the other ones, Karlamine and the ones that came from Riser's Peerage?"

"You don't have to worry about them. They signed a contract with the Youkai, so they are receiving their mana from them and are recognized as Devils in contract with another supernatural being."

"I see." Another groan came from my throat. "Ajuka, you better work fast then. I don't know how long I'll be here to help them." I decided to warn him.

"No need to worry, you can be anywhere in the world and they will still be linked." He waved off, not realizing my concern.

Actually he didn't know, I realized then, so I grabbed his attention again. "Ajuka. I don't know how long I'll be on this world. It can be hours to years. It's not up to me to decide that."

He frowned, a hint of curiosity laced with panic on his voice. "What? Are you ill?"

"No, it's not that." I toyed with the idea of explaining my situation to the Maou, but decided against it. The guy was a scientist, and a Devil. It was like baiting a Magus who suddenly got interested on your research. "But I'll be gone in short order." Hopefully, I added in my mind.

He grimaced, pensive. "Something you can't talk about, I imagine."

"Yeah. Something like that." Except I already talked with Rias, Shitori and their groups.

"I see." His face took on a troubled look, while looking down at the Pieces. "Then, could you at least look over them until that time? As you said, it could take hours or years, so if you could watch over them for me in the meantime."

The headache that had formed was getting worse by the second. In the end, I had to relent to his request. "Okay. I'll do it." Then looked at the Pieces and turned back to him. "So... How?"

"It's simple. Just hold the King Piece to your chest and recite the spell..." He said a string of unintelligible words and I looked at him blankly. "Then it will conceptualize itself and bond to your Soul."

To my Soul? Would it appear in my Reality Marble then? But if it'll bond, that means the same thing as Avalon, I guess. "I didn't understand a single word you said." I said in the end. "But if its to just conceptualize it, then I don't need that spell."

He knit his brows while looking me over. "How?"

I got the Piece and Analyzed it. It took me quite some time, at least five minutes, but there weren't really anything in it that would be immediately harmful. The one thing I could sympathize from it was that it had layer upon layer of safeguards over the concept that increased the strength of the user of the Piece. I put it to my chest and willed it the same way I did with Avalon. It was a surprisingly painless process, contrary to conceptualize Avalon that was like trying to reattach an organ inside my body.

Immediately I felt the connection with the other fifteen Pieces. I could tell where every single one of them were and their properties without looking at them. I pulled one of the Pawn pieces and examined it, felt the potential hidden inside it, then put it back on the case.

"Let's get you to your Peerage." The Maou said, a grin back on his face.

"Just do me a favor and don't call it that. And also work fast on this. I really don't want to force this situation on these girls."

"No worries. It's something that I'm already working on it. I should have results soon." He closed the case and motioned for me to accompany him.

The corridor connecting my house to the Dormitory was directly across from Asia's bedroom door, where there was a window before. Once we cleared it, we arrived at the lobby and there was surprisingly little noise coming from the place, even if I could still hear their steps on the other floors. On the lobby itself, only Sophie, Karlamine and Xuelan were sitting, while talking. Well, Xuelan was talking while she pantomimed movements for the story she was telling, the other two just listened.

When we approached it was Karlamine who reacted the fastest, since she was turned in our direction. "Shirou-dono. Beelzebub-sama." She went on a knee in front of the Maou, practically teleporting from her seat on the couch to our feet. The other two looked at us for a moment, before fumbling and kneeling down as well.

"Get up, girls." He said after a moment. Even then, they didn't. "Sophie, can you call the other girls? Its time."

The girl's head shot up, and her face clouded over for a moment. Then she nodded and went in the direction of the stairs. I didn't miss the look on her face though. "Ajuka, are you sure you explained to them? The look on Sophie's eyes wasn't..."

He grimaced and rubbed a hand over his face and hair. "Yeah. I know. The problem is that is either this or they become Strays. It isn't a perfect solution for anybody, really."

I frowned but decided to let it go. I had already agreed to this anyway. "So, how do I know who gets what Piece?"

"Just give them the same ones they had before." He answered and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"And who had what Piece? I don't know them yet." I paused a moment. "Hell, I don't know even if they know."

"Oh, right. Well, don't worry. I'll tell you who gets what."

The girls came back to the lobby, filing in the room, and I had to admire again the place. It was spacious enough for all of them to be side by side, with plenty of space left on both sides of the line. Akeno, Asia, Karlamine, Xuelan, Mihae and Marion also came but were on the other side of the room. Now that I think about it, it was a good thing that these three came to live here too. They had experienced something similar to these girls but they had more time to deal with the after-effects. They could help them where I could not.

I coughed on my hand once and lifted my head. "Good morning." I began. "First, I know that none of you are here because you want to be. If you could you would be on your homes, with your families or with the people you care about." I began to walk in front of them as I spoke. I hate delivering speeches, but I need to make sure they understand the situation they are in. "Unfortunately this isn't a option anymore. What was done to you was despicable and disgusting, but what's done is done. The best we can do now for you is give as much liberty as we can, under the constraints posed by the fact that your very beings was changed against your will."

In their faces the gloom started to form, the small cheer they had when they entered the room with was gone. When I reached the end of the line I began to come back.

"I'm not here to tell what you will do with your lives. I can't. Your lives are yours. So, I'll have to ask. You were given three choices to live your lives for now. I'll ask again, if any of you want to change the choice you made. From my understanding, you all lived together on the Underworld and that feeling of camaraderie is one of the reasons you all wanted to decide in a group, and not one by one, what you'll do. The three choices were to live on the Underworld, live with the Youkai or with us here. We can't, on good conscience, leave you without an overseer of sorts. You're all Reincarnated Devils and unfortunately, in order to be able to live on the human world, and not be labeled as Strays, you'll to be bound to either a King or form a contract with a Magician or the Youkai, as these four here have done." I signaled for the former Pieces of Riser's Peerage. "I'm sure Ajuka has already explained this for all of you, but there's an option to live with us here, but to do that, you'll have to enter a somewhat similar situation that you were already when living with the Astaroth Clan, just that instead of a Devil being your King, I'll be the stand-in."

"But you're human." Xuelan asked from my back, confusion in her eyes.

"Yes. I am human, but with the Maou's help, we, and by we, I mean him, were able to devise a way for it to happen. But that has it's own set of restrictions. The process will cloud your minds somewhat, but I want the others here to be witness that I'll do everything in my power to make sure that the ones who do decide to continue living here to be treated fairly. All the ones who want to stay will form a group similar to a Peerage, the same one you were already part of, but with the difference that there will be no Rating Game, no combat necessary, and nothing will be done against your will. Command, one of the spells that a King has over the Peerage is sealed."

I stopped at the end of the row, and turned back again to look at them. The eyes of the whole room was on me, obviously, and I was tense as hell.

"But there's a problem with the system that it couldn't be solved in time. Ajuka guaranteed me that he'll be working on solving this problem, but it will affect your behavior from now on, if you do decide to be here." I sighed, rubbing my hand over my face. "The loyalty inspired by these Pieces is stronger than normal. It will be difficult for you to try and find other Kings, if you so desire now, or think of leaving this place, because of it. Again, Ajuka will be working to solve this, but in the meantime, it will be difficult for you not to be completely subservient to me." I scowled. "I don't like it. I really don't like it, that's why I'm giving you all one last chance to back off and choose one of the other routes."

I was about to turn my back to them when I heard one of the girls say. "You were right. He really is different."

"Yeah." A second one echoed. I turned back to them and to my surprise they were all smiling.

"I guess you got your answer, Onii-sama." Akeno needled me from the sidelines.

I sagged my shoulders, sighing heavily. Okay, no backing out now. "Alright, line up in the order from higher Piece to lower. We'll do this all the once."

In the end, it was a really simple affair. There was no explosion of energy or anything. The Pieces simply conceptualized themselves to the girl's chests as soon as they were put in front of them. Apparently Ajuka had already tuned them for me, so I didn't need to do much of anything.

Now, I need to learn their names and try and put some semblance of order in this place. Too many women together is a recipe for disaster.

And I still don't know how I'll help them.

* * *

During the rest of the day I tried to get their names and commit their faces to memory, but it was kind of difficult because all of them had a reverence for me that irked me to no end. We divided the chores around the Dormitory by name and day of the week, using a whiteboard that would be put on the entrance, and they insisted that they would take care of the place themselves. From cooking to cleaning to laundry, they would do it all.

The end result was that aside from being connected to all of them, and feeling exactly where every single one of them was, the dormitory and the house would operate separately. It worked well for me because, even if I like cooking, doing it for more than twenty people was pushing it. Once or twice it wasn't a big deal, but three times a day, everyday, that was too much.

I discovered some things about them, like the fact there were few of the girls from the same country of origin. The majority were from Europe, but there were four that were from Japan, Mexico, Brazil and Israel. The others were from Switzerland, two of them, another two from Spain, and one from each of Germany, England, Norway, Portugal, Italy, France and Lithuania. Diodora really did go through all of those countries to collect these girls. I didn't know if I should be impressed or appalled.

And all of them told the same bitter story, until the point they could recollect. They were considered Holy Maidens, or Saints in some cases, or particularly caring Sisters, or devoted followers of God's teachings, that at some point were labeled as witches or something similar and were shunned by either their churches, families or villages, and were 'saved' by Diodora from being lynched or killed by them. He then proceeded to seduce the girls, making them fall in love with him, before he brought them to the Underworld and that's where their memories blanked, or better yet, they remember the ceremony that made them into Devils differently from what really happened, and the next thing they remember is living with him, doing things that I spared them from telling me, or having to recollect about. More than once I had to calm them down, and the whole process of getting to know them took most of the day.

It was already night when I came back to my house, only to remember that I still had to key the girls to my Boundary Field, and that I forgot to cast the beacon again today. That was the second day this week that I forgot to do it. When I finally made my way inside the house proper, I discovered that my kitchen had been seized by Marion and Mihae. They didn't let me enter one step inside the place, while they prepared dinner. I have no idea what they were thinking but if they thought that they were doing me a favor, I had to have a serious conversation with them.

Marion, as it turns out, was really a maid before becoming part of Riser's Peerage and she actually liked doing housework. It was because of her that Bürent became a maid also, in order for him to have two. After so long living like that, even if it was under the influence of the altered Piece, she still retained all the skills she had during that time and that experience managed to land her a job as one of the cleaning ladies on Kuoh Academy if she wished.

Mihae had been a strange case. I thought that she would get along really well with Akeno, seeing as they both had somewhat of a soft demeanor, but when they were both in the same room for long, I could almost feel the barbs being exchanged with polite smiles and mellow words. It was eerie. I really hoped that they wouldn't do that on a daily basis, otherwise I have no idea if I could endure it. Mihae actually got along pretty well was with Asia, she has the same gentleness that the former Sister has, even if they came from completely different backgrounds. Mihae too would enroll on Kuoh Academy as a second year.

Xuelan was the third addition to the household. If there was one word to describe the girl would be boisterous. The short few hours that she spent in the house in my presence were loud. Incredibly so. Another thing I noticed is that she has some sort of grudge against me, but I couldn't figure out what. The only thing she said was that if I couldn't figure out myself, it was all the more reason for her to not tell me. She too would enroll as a third year on Kuoh Academy, mostly because she didn't want to be the only one going to the University alone. The grades she had would put her on that level, but she wanted to go to the same school as the other girls for now, so she decided to step down a year.

As per my original contract with the Senri Clan, all of them would live inside the main house, separated from the girls on the dormitory. I have no idea why they decided to, since the four of them would be bunking together inside the former master bedroom. It would be cramped and there were rooms open in the dormitory that they could use, but even after giving them that option they all decided to live here. I don't think that the contract obliged them to.

That night it took me some time to go to sleep, mainly because there was a weird feeling on the back of my mind. When I decided to concentrate on it, I discovered that I could actually feel the state the girls linked to me were, and it was distracting. It was a jumble of emotions that weren't mine, all coming from the links I had with them. Did Rias and Shitori had to deal with this on a daily basis? Or was it because I was human? Or maybe because the King Piece I had was different from the way the Devils created their Peerages?

I began musing on that and found that I could somehow tune it out when I wasn't actually thinking about it. Like a kid with a scrapped knee but in reverse. If I didn't thought about it, it wouldn't disturb my own thought process. It was interesting, and I'm sure that if Rin was in my position she would already be taking notes about the whole thing.

* * *

More than a week had passed after the new additions to my life, and it was finally going back to some semblance of routine. In the mornings I would wake up earlier than everyone else to cook breakfast and lunch. After much discussion, I managed to explain for the girls that I didn't cook because no one else could, but because I, in fact, liked to. After the first day that they eaten my food, they relented. It was a good thing too, because I discovered later that Xuelan shared more than just background history with Karlamine. In the end I lost my kitchen for three more days during the week during dinner. Asia and Akeno would cook dinner every other day, and then Mihae and Marion would cook in the other days, leaving only Sunday for me.

Anyway, after breakfast we would cross over to the dormitory to collect the other girls and go to school together. I tried to make them go alone without me, but was denied almost before the words left my mouth. It turns out that the loyalty they felt because of the Pieces doesn't translate in immediate obedience. If I made whatever I said an order, they would follow to the letter, as I discovered when I said that bedtime was ten o'clock and no one should be awake past that time. Not a single one of them was out of their rooms by that time since I said that. They made everything in their power to make sure they had their obligations and necessities done by that time and were in bed at ten o'clock sharp.

It was one of the reasons why I let them be willful with whatever else they wanted, as long as it didn't translate into troublesome things, like Giselle and Sylvi wanting to adopt every single abandoned pet they came across or Candida, Naiara and Julie wanting to get part-time jobs. It was a complicated to say the least, to explain to them without making it an order. End result, whatever rumors there were about me on school, they skyrocketed when the girls confirmed that they lived with me. Worse, they all now shared my family name, because either the contract with the Senri Clan, or because they were part of my 'Peerage'. Just the amusement from my predicament on Akeno, Rias and Shitori's eyes were enough to make me quite certain that a good part of the rumors came from them.

Kusaka and Meguri also started to distance themselves from me, even though I didn't actually do anything to them. They were two of the girls from the Student Council that actually stopped to talk with me whenever we saw on the hallways of the school. I don't know if that was because something I did, or was because Saji practically worshiped me now, for some reason. Problem is, every time I get the feeling that he wants to ask me about... whatever is on his mind lately, really, either Hanakai or Nimura would appear out of nowhere and drag him away by the ear.

Also, I made an enemy of two thirds of the Perverted Trio.

More than once I caught both Motohama and Matsuda, trying to rope Ise into some plot to take me down, or discredit me, or simply embarrass me. When I came to them directly and, pulling them from the scruff of their necks to the rooftop and threatened to dangle them from there they immediately stopped squirming. After explaining to them I was only the Administrator of the Dormitory and not some kind of sex god as they believed, I let them go, but it was all for naught as they continued to see me worse than they saw Kiba, who was their public enemy number one until a week ago, even with Ise trying to explain that they were wrong.

With that said, at least I didn't really have to worry about the four that lived with me. There were a few things that they needed help still, but it wasn't anything the other girls weren't going through as well, so they helped each other and I only really interfered when things were getting out of hand. Like Xuelan trying to duel Karlamine, or whatever game the chinese girl managed to scrounge up that involved painting the walls of their room.

After the lunch break bell rung, I was going to the rooftop to eat my lunch, as it was still one of the only places where I could be alone for a few moments, thinking about all of this, when two things happened almost at once.

First, I caught a very familiar scent from the direction of the entrance of the school. I was about to go to that side of the rooftop when the second thing happened. A thick fog enveloped me for a second and a moment later I was in another place. At least, that was it felt like. Everything was identical to the school. The rooftop, the walls, the railing, the trees in the distance, the streets.

But there wasn't as much mana in the ambient. It was almost like a bounded field was created all around the school that eliminated the prana, or a giant Formalcraft circle had been erected all around it. It wasn't any of that, of course. There were no sounds coming from the building, so I knew that it was something different. Something that I saw happening recently.

"Is that how you invite people to talk, Georg?" I asked to the empty space of the rooftop.

"Well, well. It seems that your senses are better than I imagined, Emiya-san." The boy appeared from behind a pole that was too thin for it to have hidden his body. "I apologize if there was any discomfort, but we needed to talk with you with something closer to privacy than the school would have offered."

"We, as in?" I was already feeling the scent of at least two other people. One was the hulking monster that identified himself as Heracles, but the other was stronger than him and was directly behind his back.

"Good afternoon, Emiya-san." The newcomer said. "My name is CaoCao, and I'm the leader of the Hero Faction of the Khaos Brigade."

"Good afternoon, CaoCao." I answered without moving from my spot to look at him. "I hope that whatever this meeting is about it won't end like the last one. Your colleagues recruitment policies seems to be ill-suited to gather long term employees."

"Yes, yes. That was a mistake from their part." The boy said, while walking around me to get to Georg side. He was a black haired boy wearing a gakuran, stylized with a belt that looked chinese in origin. "I came today to offer my apologies for that."

"Is the brute hidden back there going to apologize as well?" I asked, signaling to where Heracles was hidden.

"Oh, I see that the intel on you wasn't completely wrong." The black haired man said, motioning his arm to the side.

"Whatever. Can we wrap this up fast, because I still intend to eat lunch today." I said with as much frivolousness as I could.

"Of course, of course. Have you thought about our proposal?" He asked, still giving the aura of confidence he had the whole time since I appeared here.

"What proposal?" I asked. "Last time there wasn't much talking involved as it was sharp things being directed at me."

"The proposal to join us, of course. You see, you have talent, maybe even the Soul of a hero dormant, and we would like you to help us demonstrate to these supernatural scum that we humans can be stronger than them. We can be the Saviors of the Humanity." He opened his arms as if to embrace the whole world. "We'll destroy all the supernatural creatures that exist. Angels, Devils, Fallen and Youkai, Gods and Beasts, Demons and Seraphins. We'll show them all that humanity is invincible."

I had to suppress a sardonic smile and tried my best to keep a poker face while he kept talking. Either he thought he was being eloquent enough to sway me or he just liked the sound of his own voice. I was beginning to lean towards the latter.

"What do you say? Why don't you help us?" He asked in the end.

"Let me ask you something." I turned to him. "Where in all that will be the humans that are not connected to this war that you want to declare."

"Pardon?" He scrunched his eyes.

"From my understanding, there's a ceasefire between the Three Factions." I elaborated for the boy. "Angels, Fallen and Devils. While it's still in effect, humanity may suffer some losses due to some of the more unsavory parts of each Faction getting away from toeing the line, but what will happen when you declare that war of yours?"

"Humanity will be declared victorious in the end, of course." He answered instantly. "We will destroy every single one of these beasts and make it so humanity is the only surviving species."

"In the end, huh? How much time will that take? How many people will die in the meantime? How many of those people will even be aware that there was a War in the first place?"

He knitted his brows at me. "I don't understand. Sacrifices have to made in war. Some people will die, unfortunately, but in the end it would be for a good cause."

"Do you know the saying 'War is old men talking and young men dying'? That's not just an hyperbole for generals sending young soldiers to the battlefield. What that means is that people who die the most in Wars are the helpless, the clueless, the ones who couldn't escape the battlefield because they didn't even know that they were on a battlefield in the first place. If you want to make sacrifices, as you said, then you should first be prepared to sacrifice yourself and your entire group for the sake of the humanity, and not use those clueless people to bolster your numbers without them even knowing that you are doing that."

I looked to the fake sky of this place, wherever it was. It was gray and it had good illumination, but there was no sun anywhere in sight.

"The _good cause_ you are saying is that is better for people to die, without trying to talk first with whatever you are trying to wage war against. Isn't that the way Dictators are created? How Ghengis Khan conquered the world during his time? How the Romans did the same to Europe? Your ideology and mine are too different in the end, CaoCao. I want to save people, you want to prove that you are the strongest."

"'Save people', huh?" He smiled at me with an air of superiority. "You do realize that for you to have people to save, there's the need for..."

"...people to be in need of saving in the first place." I completed his phrase. "Of course I know. I lived with this ideal my whole life. Do you think I had an epiphany about it yesterday?"

He looked confused for a moment. Maybe he would say something else? It didn't matter because his face hardened a moment later and he scowled. "I see. Maybe it was too much to expect someone that is surrounded by Devils to understand the grandiosity of humanity."

"Humanity is grandiose without you needing to prove." I said to him when it appeared that he was going to dismiss me. "Or do you think that Angels, Fallen Angels, Youkai, Devils and whatever else only existed in the last few years? They existed for millennia, and since they existed for so long, how come humanity still prospers? They need us to survive, CaoCao, as much as the populace needs Gods to direct them, the Gods themselves need the worship of humans to survive. Why do you think that the Shinto Gods are almost extinct? Here, the Age of the Gods hasn't ended, but there are fewer of them than it should. That's because humanity isn't cattle. That's because humanity always took up arms against the supernatural. Where do you think the legends of the Heroes come from? Who do you think managed to ascend to the Throne of Heroes? You don't need might to prove humanity's superiority, because they already afraid of us. They aren't afraid of a individual human, but from humanity as whole? Of course they are afraid. And you want to wage war against those that are already afraid of us."

I stopped for a moment to catch my breath. I had become quite passionate as the words started to flow out.

"What you want isn't for the sake of humanity, CaoCao. Is for the sake of your own ego. But let me just throw you one last bit of advice." I paused, walking the three steps that separated myself from one of the benches and letting go of my lunchbox on it, before turning back to him and putting both my hands on my pants pockets. "There was never a war that the part that started it, won. In the end, all the wars in the history of humanity, the aggressor always lost. It took time for some, but the wars were never truly won by the one who attacked first."

"Whatever you are talking, it bores me. I have no time for someone who prefers to turn the other cheek instead of striking back. Heracles, he's all yours." CaoCao said, turning his back to me in a clear dismissal and walking into a fog that appeared at Georg's feet.

"Finally!" The booming voice came from behind me. "Now I can turn you to paste, but do try to make this interesting please. It's been ages since I had a good fight."

I didn't turn back to him, and kept watching were both the other two disappeared from. "Sorry, but I don't fight. I kill."

"Bwahahahaha!" The brute laughed, voice booming in the silence that was this place. "Then you won't mind if I kill as well." I felt the air displacing instantly and an explosion happening on the floor that I just jumped away from. "This is my Sacred Gear, Variant Detonation. Whatever I punch, it explodes."

"Humm..." I answered getting up from my half crouch. "I see. You don't have any of the original Heracles abilities then?"

"I have the Soul of the hero. That's more than enough for me to turn you into a bloody splat on the ground." He laughed and cocked his arm back again.

Then a memory flashed in my eyes. It was not my memory. It was one of the dreams I had recently. The black and red Berserker about to attack Illya and me. Just as suddenly as it came, the feeling of deja-vu passed and I knew what to do. Guided by memories that weren't mine, acting on instinct I held my hand up in the air.

The distance between us was twenty meters. This brute could cover this distance in three seconds. Which means that this battle will end in the next three seconds. Exactly like the memory. "Trace on." Grabbing the handle of the axe-sword that was still not in existence, the distance between the two of us became twelve meters.

Unlimited Blade Works was accessible to me this time, unlike the memory, but I didn't need it. The servant Berserker, if he had been summoned as almost any other class, he would be already an formidable opponent. But since he was, most of the abilities he had in life were lost because the madness tore at his mind, and didn't let him use them.

But they were still engraved on his weapon. And I could sympathize with it. Learn from it. Copy it.

I could Fake it.

The handle was forming in my hand, as I selected the targets. Upper arm, collarbone, windpipe, temple, diaphragm, rib, testicles, tights and heart. The same targets, minus the heart, that the memory told I had selected before. "Set."

Six meters.

The blade finished forming in my hand. It was a monstrosity that I shouldn't be able to hold in my hand. But I could sympathize with the strength necessary to do it. "Trigger off-"

Three meters. I can almost feel the air displacement of his punch coming near my face.

"Nine Lives Blade Works." I declared and in an instant all nine targets were simultaneously struck. Or almost simultaneously, because even if Nine Lives Blade Works used godspeed, it was still a step behind instantaneously.

But it was enough.

With an explosion that sent me and the sword-axe against the railing, I almost didn't see the end result of my attack.

Getting up from my position I dismissed the slab of rock and traced Kanshou and Bakuya. I walked in the direction of the center of the explosion while the dust settled and stopped just short of the cloud that it billowed, straining my senses to pick up whatever was inside that cloud.

"Wha-*hack*cough* What was that?" The voice inside the cloud was unmistakably Heracles', but he didn't seem too good.

The dust started settling when I spoke. "One of the many skills that the original Heracles had. Nine Lives." The smoke dissipated more and I saw that even if that attack should have killed him instantly, he protected his head in the last moment. Even then, he was cut all over, and just didn't die yet because his body was stubborn. "It was originally created to be used with an bow and arrow, but it was adapted to use with a sword."

"I kn-*cough* know what it was. I asked *cough* *hack* what was that sword." The smoke cleared completely now and I could see the pool of blood on the floor forming.

"His sword during the Grail War." I answered truthfully. "That was the sword that the Heroic Spirit Heracles used during the Fifth Grail War, the Fifth Heaven's Feel." There's no way that he knows what I'm talking about, but I won't lie to him. I at least own Berserker that much. He was always there to protect Illya and died doing just that, even when I couldn't get there in time.

"Heh. Seems *hack* that I don't know much about myself *cough cough* as I thought." He closed his eyes. "Still, it's a shame I didn't get a good fight in the end."

I waited a few more minutes in front of him, Kanshou and Bakuya still poised to strike. Then I knelt beside him and put a hand on his neck, to make sure he was dead. I closed his eyes and moved away from his body.

Looking around I had no idea how I would get out of here, wherever here was. The answer came out of nowhere. Wherever that place was, it disappeared in a swirl of fog again and we were deposited in midair, several hundred feet from the ground.

It took me a second to realize where I was, before I pulled Heracles body to me and used it to shield me from the impact that would happen in a few seconds. I Reinforced my torso and head first, then my legs and arms. It was a close call, since even with my whole body Reinforced to the limit, I still fell hard on the roof of the school. The explosion that happened was expected. What I didn't expect was for Heracles body to literally sink on the concrete, making a print of his body on it, while I broke seven ribs and my left arm in two places.

I spend at least a minute on the ground, groggy. Thankfully the impact wasn't as concentrated as I expected, at least for me, as his body was turned to mush when I used it to shield myself, and left a bloody mess that covered the floor and myself. Two minutes after the impact at most, Rias appeared on the rooftop, followed close behind by Akeno. I waved at them with my still good arm while they looked at me horrified, and I let my body fall down. I think I perforated one my lungs.

I felt a burst of Prana and a second later heard a terrified cry of "Onii-chan!" It took me a second to realize that Rias must have summoned Asia from wherever she was. I may have been going into shock because the first thing that came to me was that they would need to change the memories of whoever witnessed the forced teleport.

Seconds later, I felt her hands snapping my arm in place. Oddly enough I didn't feel anything when she did it. I think the adrenaline still hasn't wore off or the shock already settled in. Her hands glowed in the green light that it usually did when she activated her Sacred Gear. The effect was immediate but it was a little less than what I was expecting. I rolled out of the other man's body and tried to take a deep breath, only to hack and cough.

There was another flurry of footsteps and I saw almost all, if not all, the girls that lived on the dorm suddenly appear on the rooftop from the stairway. Rias was on the phone, and Asia was looking at me with fear in her eyes. I took in the scene and was about to lift my hand to pat her head when I realized that I was covered in blood. Not mine, but the girls didn't know that.

"Don't worry." I said to the girl. "It's not my blood."

She looked from me to the body that I rolled out of and then back to me. If my attack hadn't killed Heracles, the fall certainly did. There was announcement on the PA system of the school. "Attention all students, please evacuate the premises in orderly fashion. I repeat, please evacuate the premises in orderly fashion. This is not a drill. Please..." The announcement continued and Rias came to my side as I tried to sit up.

Tried to because Akeno suddenly appeared on the other side of Asia leaving me in between both of them, and they were holding me down. "You're still hurt." The brunette said.

I shook my head. "No, I'm not. Asia just healed my broken bones."

"What happened here?" The redhead asked.

I looked at the body beside me and then back at her. "Some jerks tried to recruit me. They didn't like when I said no."

"Recruit you?!" The redhead asked, worry on her voice and face.

"Yeah. When they realized that the muscle they brought wouldn't be enough to convince me, well..." I looked up. "They dropped me from up there."

She looked up as did both the other girls. "Up where?"

"No idea. One moment I was here on the rooftop, fighting this guy, next I was up there and falling." I answered truthfully.

"Who tried to recruit you?" Akeno went to the question that I didn't want to answer.

So I lied. "No idea. They didn't exactly say for whom." She looked down at me, clearly not believing. "One was a magician, I think. He created a copy of the rooftop, another was a guy with black hair and introduced himself as CaoCao. And the third..." I trailed off looking at the bloody mess.

"CaoCao? Like in the Romance of The Three Kingdoms?" Rias was the one who picked up on that.

"Like I said. Probably pseudonyms." I finally managed to get up, only to see the entire legion of ex-Holy Maidens looking positively pissed. "Don't worry. If it wasn't for the fall, I wouldn't be hurt at all."

"Still, you should go home with us today, Shirou-sama." Giselle said. If she said that with any other face than with the narrowed eyes she was looking at me, it would seem like a request, instead of the demand that it actually was. Looking over the rest of the girls I could see that the sentiment was echoed by them all.

So I relented. "Sure. But there's no need to be afraid." I bumped my own chest while saying "I'm tough!" But the effect was somewhat diminished when I started coughing and hacking a moment later.

"Wait there!" Rias' voice was close to a command, as she went blank faced again. "I'll call someone to take you home."

"No need." Then I looked down at my body. "Well, some clothes for me to change into would be best actually."

"Akeno." The redhead said, while the rest of the girls formed a ring around me.

After much cajoling and several rounds of going back and forth with the redhead, I finally managed a compromise. The Shrine Maiden came back with a set of Janitor clothes, and I would go back home on my own power, but the girls formed a human ring around me during the whole way. It was embarrassing as all hell, but I had to let them.

If there was one thing that I learned in all my years with Rin and Sakura around the house was that if a girl smile at you politely while their aura is anything but, just suck it up and let them do whatever they wanted.

It hurts less. Even falling from the sky on top of someone I just killed hurts less than those smiles.

* * *

Three days later, a Thursday, was supposed to be the opening round of the Archery Competition and I was preparing myself mentally for my contribution on it. After the incident happened on the rooftop, Shitori and Rias managed to do damage control on the situation and, thankfully, no one who would need to have their memories erased saw anything suspicious. Asia teleported out when she was eating lunch on the clubroom with several of the ex-Holy Maidens, while the explosion was chalked up to a faulty gas line that leaked near a open flame inside the Home Economics Classroom, which is directly below the rooftop. They only managed to say that it was a explosion from inside the classroom and not something that fell out of the sky on top of the room because the place had been quarantined immediately and they would take days to reform it. Meanwhile the rumors that it had been somehow my fault that it happened appeared, since I was seen going in the direction of it, even if my destination had been the rooftop and not that classroom.

I suppose that it was better that way. Shitori never explained what she did with the body, though. She said it would be better for me not to know, and that they would try and identify him to go after the people who had come after me. In the meantime I had received double reinforcements for my 'personal guard', in the form of the girls of the dormitory who simply didn't left my side if I was out of the house for nothing. Not all of them at the same time, but there was at least three with me at all times nowadays, with the exception of when I was in class or in the bathroom.

But through all of this, there was one thing that it still lingered in my mind. The scent that I caught that day, right before I was spirited away by the Hero Faction. It was almost familiar and there was no way that I would not recognize the power. It was as close to Rin and Sakura as it could get without being actually one of them. Going by my recent experiences, I had thought that maybe it was their father or mother. In this world, they could still be alive and their scent could be similar because of that.

At the moment I was inside the Archery Dojo, getting ready for the competition while musing on this, when another scent caught my attention. It was Archer's, err, the me from this universe. As soon as I finished my preparations I followed the scent. In the courtyard, outside the Dojo several tents were set up to serve as changing and locker rooms for the schools that had come. The entire affair turned out to be grand, as one would expect of Kuoh Academy, and the tents themselves were sturdy. I followed the scent until a voice caught my attention.

It was a young, male, from inside the same tent where I was going to. "Tohsaka-sensei. We're ready."

That made me stop dead on my tracks. Tohsaka? Tohsaka?! Rin was here? But how come I don't feel her scent? Did that mean she didn't have the magical presence in this universe? No, that's not it. I had felt her before, right? And the voice came from where my counterpart was too. I was going in a loop again, when the voice that answered made my jaw drop.

"Very well! Everyone line up." It was the other 'me's' voice! "The team competition will be today, but I want everyone who will participate on the individuals to watch as well. It will be good experience for tomorrow."

I must have blanked out and been planted there, in the middle of the rows of tents, for almost a minute, because I didn't even see when they opened their tent, or hear the rest of whatever he said for his students after that.

"Ah, good afternoon. Erm... Emiya Shirou-san, correct?" 'Archer' asked, with a polite smile on his face. He too was wearing a black hakama over a white haori like the boys and girls around him. Like myself, actually. I stared at him dumbly for another moment, until he too looked back concerned. "Emiya-san?"

"Tohsaka-... sensei..." I grounded out, forcing the syllables to form on my throat and out my lips.

His expression continued concerned. "Why, yes. Is there something I can help you with?"

My brain finally rebooted after that. "Ah, no. No, sorry. I..." I paused trying to think what to say. "I only thought I recognized the name, that's all. One of my friends was called that."

His eyes opened wide then his expression softened. "Oh, I see. You must have known my wife or her sister, then?"

"I-I-I think so?" It came out as a question. I really had no idea what to make of this situation. The presence of the guy itself was enough to throw me off guard, but hearing that he was married to Rin in this universe only threw me for another loop. But then, why was his name Tohsaka? Shouldn't Rin had taken his name, whatever that name was?

I was spared from further embarrassing myself when Solveiga and Tomoko caught both my arms from each side. "Shirou-sama. The Captain wanted know where did you run off to." The white haired girl said.

"Mou, Shirou-sama, don't disappear without telling us first." Then she noticed the man in front of her and then looked back at me, before looking at him again. "Humm... Shirou-sama, is that-"

"I'll be going now." I bowed to the man abruptly cutting her off. "I'm sorry for taking your time." And turned heel and was gone from there, before the former Shrine Maiden turned Devil could say what I'm sure was already on the mind of the others around us. He looked like and older version of myself. Actually, he looked like what I looked before I came to this world, difference was that his hair was gray-white completely already and his muscle mass was considerably less than I had.

"Ah-Ah... Sure. Let's have a fair competition." He bowed back, but I was already gone when he looked up again.

"Shirou-sama. Was that one of your relatives?" Came the obvious question from the black haired girl at my right. "You looked-"

"No. It wasn't." I answered a little too curtly, then caught myself before I exploded on them. "Just some guy that looks a lot like me."

The girls looked a little taken aback by that, but in the end didn't press further. They must have realized that I wasn't in my best of moods.

When we were about to enter the range again, I caught sight of Shitori, entering the place. I hurried my pace and before the President could go to whatever she was going here, I pulled her to the corner. "Shitori." I said and she yelped. "We have a problem."

"Emiya-san? Problem?" Her eyes narrowed. "What kind of problem?" Her eyes quickly flicked up then at me again, probably thinking about my fight with Heracles.

"No, not that kind." I looked around but there were too much prying eyes and ears, so I lowered my voice and put my mouth to her ear. "Can you find everything you can about one of the teachers of another school?"

"Emiya-san?" She asked again, but then continued. "Who? Is someone threatening you?"

"No. But I think I found my counterpart. You'll notice him too, once you see him." I continued.

"But there weren't any Emiyas in the roster from any of the schools." She said.

"Long story, that I don't have time right now. His name is Tohsaka, don't know the first name, from..." And here I realized that I forgot to read the plate with the name of the school he was from. "I don't know from where, but when you see you'll understand. Please, can you?"

She narrowed her eyes at me again. From the outside, it seemed like I was trying to seduce the girl, but I didn't care for that at the moment. "I can, but I don't know how much time it'll take."

I stepped back. "Don't worry about that. Just get the information for me, please?"

"I'll see what I can do." She nodded, and walked right out of the Dojo, forgetting what she had came here for in the first place.

I nodded to my two 'bodyguards' and went back inside the range. Our school would be the first to participate in this round, since we were hosting the tournament, and during the whole slew of dignitaries that came and speeches that happened, I had the time to center myself again. There's no way I would be completely alright in this situation, but I had to maintain some semblance of calm, at least outwardly.

The competition itself would be held at the gym, and it had the whole slew of targets already placed on the far side on one side of the gym while the lines were on the other. I thought that we would be going at it alone, but apparently not. This competition was different from what I was expecting, actually. It was a team competition, following the individual format. Everyone would fire their four arrows, and then after the first round of elimination, we would keep going one arrow at a time until there was only one left. The winner of the competition got zero points, the second two, the third three and so on until the end where the school with less points would be declared winners. All in all it should be faster than the what I was expecting since it would be closer to a round robin than single elimination.

With all the competitors lined up, I was last from my team, as the anchor, and two of the four before me missed one arrow each on this round, being eliminated. The other two and myself didn't miss any. After the first round, of the forty participants only fifteen were left. I frowned at that for a moment. It was supposed to be the prefectural tournament, there should be more people who could shoot four arrows on the target. I mean, it only needed to hit the target, it didn't need to be on the bulls-eye to qualify for the second round.

Looking over at the competitors of the school my counterpart was responsible to, I saw that all five of them qualified. That almost guarantees them a place on the national tournament, what with the drop outs of the other schools. They were the only ones to qualify every one.

The second round was sudden death. One arrow for every competitor, and continued until there was only one left. The competitors of Kuoh Academy made to the third and fifth rounds, respectively, dropping out at twelfth and seventh, leaving me with two others from the school of my counterpart and three from assorted schools. Another five rounds and there were only three of us.

I could simply drop out at this point. Deliberately miss a target and be done with it, since I had already fulfilled my promise to make Kuoh Academy not be on the last place. Even if I got third place, the points would ensure that Kuoh would be ranked at least fifth, maybe even fourth, depending on the other two boys.

But they had 'Archer'. And I don't know if it was because I still don't forgive him, or because it was the first time I actually competed in a tournament, but I didn't want to lose to him. Or his students in this case. It wasn't Archer, obviously, but the feeling I kept getting throughout the whole competition was that his eyes never left me. It was unsettling and in order to not think about it, I kept trying to focus only on the forms and the shot. Be the arrow that was shot not the one shooting the arrow, and all that.

It became something of fierce battle, because no one missed their arrows until the twenty second round, where the boy from the other school did. After that, it took another fifteen rounds for one of us to miss, and it wasn't me that did. When it was finally over, when I let my body finally relax, it was the first time I heard the gym exploding with cheers. In that moment I whipped my head around to the stands only to see that all the people I got to know here on Kuoh was there, cheering for me. It was a strange feeling of elation that almost brought tears to me, if it wasn't for the fact that I felt hollow because of it.

I was an adult, even if I my body told me otherwise. I had the experience with bows that could pierce through bodies like they were made of paper. I had years of fighting with my life on the line, using swords altered to be more aerodynamic than arrows. There's no way that these kids would be able to compare that kind of experience with mine. It was simply impossible. They didn't have a chance.

And I felt terrible because of it. I didn't smile. Even when I was presented with the trophy and medal. Even when I was being greeted by everyone there. I think the only ones that would understand my situation would be Rias and her Peerage, since they knew of my circumstances. The competition extended late into the afternoon and it was already night when we all left the premises.

I knew that the Advisor and the Captain of the Archery Club wanted me to continue tomorrow during the Individual Competition, but I couldn't care less about it. I did what I promised to do, end of the story.

At least, that was I hoped. When we were walking out of the school, me and the entourage of girls, I located again the scent of my counterpart down the street, like he was waiting. When he noticed me, he started to come in our direction and I stopped, making the girls around me look at me puzzled. "I have to talk with him alone for a few minutes. Why don't you go back to the dorm and start preparing dinner?" I asked the girls, but the tone of my voice was anything but asking.

"Yes, Shirou-sama." Sophie said as representative of the others, and started walking down the street in the direction were 'Archer' was coming from. When they crossed by him, I could see that he was taken aback a little by the looks the girls were shooting him. I stayed where I was, waiting for him to get to me.

"Good evening, Emiya-san." 'Archer' said. "I would like to talk with you for a few moments, if that isn't a problem?" His tone of voice had a hint of an edge to it, but it was actually quite fatherly.

"Sure, but I have to warn you that I still have to get home and cook dinner for the girls." I said.

He looked from me to the throng of people down the street then back. "You live with them all?" His eyebrows shot up.

"They live in the dorm and I am the administrator." I answered easily. "Now, what can I do for you, Tohsaka-san."

"Ah," He flushed for a moment. It was a weird sight to see that expression on the same face as Archer. "I'm sorry. It's just that one my students pointed out to me that..." He trailed off there, fishing for the right words.

"That we look alike. Too much, in fact." I finished for him and saw as he sagged.

"Well, yes. To be blunt about it, you look like a younger brother that I never had." Then he paused and grimaced. "Or at least, thought I never had."

"Thought you never had?" I prompted. Don't tell me this guy also had an accident when he was young.

"Yeah, you see, I'm an orphan, never met my birth parents, and you look eerily like I did when I was your age." He smiled innocently. "I thought that maybe, we had something more in common than our appearances."

"I see." Yeah. Orphan. Is that a trend over the multiverse? 'Emiya Shirou' will be an orphan? "But I'm sorry to say that I too am an orphan. Are we related? Possible, but I don't think so." I looked to the side. What could I do in this situation. Talk about awkward. "Would you accompany me, Tohsaka-san?"

"Huh? Ah, sure. Where to?" He asked.

"My house." After guiding him to my home, and sitting him on the living room, I was about to leave to pour some tea for us when the Shrine Maiden appeared from the kitchen already carrying a tray. "Ah, thank you, Akeno."

"No problem, Onii-sama." She said with a glint of mischief in her eyes. I have no idea what she was plotting, but I couldn't let her do it.

"Your sister?" 'Archer' asked, suddenly looking very interested on the black haired girl.

"No. I only live here with Onii-sama." The girl herself answered. "When he tore me out of my home and brought me here, quite forcefully I might add, he said that he would be my brother."

I said a lot of things that night, but could she not put it in such a misleading way? "Onii-chan?" And now, to add oil to the fire, the blonde former Nun makes her appearance from the hallway connecting to the dorm. "Sophie and the others wanted to know..." She trailed off when she saw who I was sitting with. "Ah, good evening."

The man bowed back and then arched an eyebrow at me. "Not your sister as well, I suppose?"

"Not every family needs blood relation." I answered him. Now that I think about it, it applied to Akeno too.

"Ah," He stopped for a moment, processing the information. "I see. Of course, of course." He relented and took a sip of the tea that was poured for him. "Hmm... That's a really good blend. I'm sure my wife would be delighted to know the recipe."

"It's Onii-sama's." Akeno said, while sitting beside me. "I'm sure he can tell you."

"Of course, erm..."

"She's Himejima Akeno, and the blonde there is Asia Argento." I introduced them belatedly, then motioned to the introduce him to the girls. "And this is Tohsaka-sensei, he's the Advisor for one of the Archery Clubs that competed today at Kuoh."

"Ah, good evening." Asia said again, apparently forgetting that she had already greeted the man, bowing to him and then looking from him to me then back. "Onii-chan is he..." She trailed off. For the better I think, I don't know if she would imply that he was a relative of mine or if she made the connection that it could be myself from this world, so I interposed before she could sort out her thoughts.

"No. We look a lot alike, but we don't have any relation."

"Ah-" Then her eyes widened and she finally realized. "Of course not. I'm sorry, Sensei."

"There's no need for that, Argento-san." He waved off, in a manner disconcertingly familiar to me. It was the same way I did it, after all.

"But that this brings me a question, if I may ask?" I said quickly in order to hide my discomfort.

"Ah... Sure."

"You said you were an orphan, so is Tohsaka your adopted parents name?" I had to ask that. Maybe this guy was adopted by Tohsaka's father and it had nothing to do with his marrying into Rin's family.

"Why, yes. Father was the one who picked my up at the orphanage when I was younger. At the time they thought that Mother couldn't have children, you see, but it turns out they were wrong." He blushed for some reason then continued. "Well, they brought me up anyway, and were always upfront with me about my origins, never treating me any lesser than a real son, so there were no real problems for me."

"I see." I closed my eyes while turning my head up. "That's... good. That's good for you."

"I'm sorry, Emiya-san. Here I am talking about my family and I didn't even ask about-"

"My adopted father died when I was ten and I continued to live alone ever since." I said brusquely. "But I'm sure that we are not related because I wasn't even in this country when I was adopted." Technically I was, but not really.

The man deflated visibly. "I see. I'm sorry for even suggesting..."

"Don't worry. As I'm sure you have gone through the same problems I had." I waved off, and it was his turn to be disconcerted with the gesture. "You said you were married?"

"Ah, yes. I am." Then he furrowed his brows. "But what does that have to do with..."

"Nothing, just that I couldn't imagine you married, sir." I answered quickly. "As you said, we look way too similar and since you're older than me, for a moment I thought about what my wife would be in the future." It was another load of bull but I had perfected lying with a straight face a long time ago. Only other consummate liar like Akeno could really pick up my tells and, even then, not all the time.

He coughed on his hand. "Ah, of course, of course. This is somewhat disconcerting for me as well." He said waving a hand signaling the room at large. "As you can imagine, I also don't see myself living with so many girls that are not related to me..." Then he frowned. "Not anymore at least."

I raised an eyebrow at that, but then shrugged. "Yeah. We both have our own share of perplexity with the situation."

"Yes," He chuckled. "Yes, we do." Then he got up from his seat. "Well, I don't want to take anymore of your time, Emiya-san."

"Oh, no problem." I answered easily. "If you ever want to talk about anything, you know where my house is. Just ring the door bell and wait that someone will get you."

"Oh, thank you." He bowed to me and I did the same. "Have a good night, Emiya-san, Himejima-san, Argento-san."

The three of us said our goodbyes in kind and the man was out the door.

"So, we are family, huh?" Akeno said, from my back.

I knitted my brows turning to her. "Huh?" I asked confused.

"You do know that the way you said that to him made you look like a womanizer, right?" She smirked at me.

"Womanizer? What?" I drew blank on that one.

"You said and I quote. 'Not every family needs blood relations'. Right?" I nodded, still confused. "Generally that means a couple, you know? And seeing as you mentioned that about both Asia-chan and me, you can imagine why he left in a hurry."

I looked at her dumbly for a few seconds trying to get to that same conclusion that she did, but couldn't. "But you both addressed me as brother. There's no way he misunderstood that."

"Oh, don't tell me that you didn't know that are people with such fetishes?" Then she cocked her head to side, smiling widely. "Or that he probably heard them all since he's a school teacher?"

I paled at that. No way, the guy thinks I have an harem? "I'm not Ise!" I said out loud without meaning to, then reigned in my temper. "You are blowing it out of proportion. No way the guy thinks that. He thinks the same way I do, for the most part."

"Oh, really? What makes you certain?"

I opened my mouth to retort but it never came. I tried to put myself on his shoes, and after seeing that whole lot of girls around me, then getting here and seeing the way both Asia and Akeno were acting, was it possible that he drew the wrong conclusions?

"By Zelretch's fake beard." I said in a disbelieving tone while Akeno's laughter rang inside the room.

The only consolation I had was that they were the only two that appeared on the room while he was here. What would he think if he saw the whole contingent of women that lived here at the same time. "I-I'm going to bed." I said after a moment.

Maybe this has all been a dream in the end. One could hope for, right?

* * *

Today was Sunday, and I was on a stroll around town, or to be more accurate, I was the chaperone for Sylvi, Alberta, Margareth, Carmela and Naiara, since they won some sort of contest between them on the dormitory and had the day for themselves, while the losers would have to do their part of the chores. I have no idea what that contest was but it involved a lot of yelling random words, the whiteboard and an atomic pencil.

Other than that I didn't ask, but it seemed tame enough, and Asia was with them at the time, so I don't think it was anything dangerous. The girls had started blossoming in the care of the former Sister and the others. I was glad for that, because I rarely if ever did actually anything. All I do is show up there in the mornings and talk with some of them during the course of the day.

I discovered a lot about them during those conversations. Sophie, for example, didn't always had white hair and gray eyes. She was blonde with blue eyes when young, but when she was nine, her blessing, a.k.a. her Sacred Gear manifested itself, and after that her hair began to grow white and her eyes took on the tint they now have. Since the girls were all considered Holy Maidens at some point, all their powers were somehow related to curative or protection abilities, and Sophie wasn't different. Her Sacred Gear, Heaven's Aura created a soft glowing white aura around her body that protected her from harm, and if she wished, anything she touched that aura covered it too be it a thing or a person. According to her, nothing could pass through that forcefield, but since it was too close to her skin, I didn't want to test it with some of my blades. The only real drawback it had was that she couldn't do anything when it was active, only move slowly. In order to even cast a spell, she needed to take down the Aura before calling it forth again.

Alberta, one of the Bishops, with blue hair and blue eyes, hailed from Spain. She was one of the oldest girls, been alive since the second world war. It was actually when she discovered her own Sacred Gear, Painful Contribution. She could basically heal any wound she wanted, but at the cost of herself receiving similar pain of the wound she was healing, albeit in a smaller scale. If someone was shot in the leg, she could heal them completely, but she herself would feel like the shot had tore through herself. She told that once she tried to heal someone with a heart attack and almost died herself because of the shock on her system.

Another who had a similarly dangerous Sacred Gear was Astrid, the other Bishop. The blonde haired, blued eyed girl from Switzerland had a Sacred Gear called The Cradle. With a name like that, I should be excused to think that it wasn't anything dangerous, but it was in fact horrifying. When active, a giant Cradle would form in front of her and from inside it a younger form of herself would emerge and could deflect any and all attacks directed at her or at people she was protecting. It acted more like a shield than anything, since she couldn't will it to attack or perform any other action. Problem was, every wound her projection received, would be transferred to her own body when she deactivated the Sacred Gear. Even fatal wounds would be transferred, amputations and the like. The silver lining was that if she could maintain it active, the projection would heal itself over time until it was as good as new, but if the projection was cut off at any point, she received the backlash of whatever wounds the projection had at the time.

Julie, a Rook, also from Spain, had another protective Sacred Gear. When she activated Shield of the Apostles, a energy shield, bigger than herself would appear on her left wrist and she could hide herself behind it. The Shield was apparently translucent, but anyone looking through it at her would see a ghost visage instead of the girl herself. When I first saw her red hair and brown eyes disappear and transform in what could only be called a ghost, really, it startled me.

The other Rook, Margareth, from England, had black hair and brown eyes. She had a Sacred Gear called Love Thy Neighbor, and compared to the others was quite tame. When active, the little bracelets would envelop her with a soft green glow and she could read the other person silent cues easily. When used as she had during her time on the church, she could tell when someone had sinned and didn't confess, or when someone was trying to lie on her presence. It was basically a lie detector, but when we tested, she could also read killing intent before it was unleashed, it almost precognitive, and every time it did, the green glow became more fierce and could deflect attacks up to a point, like Sophie's Heaven's Aura, but in a much lesser scale, since it only deflected the attacks on the point of contact and the attack had to have her as the target for it to kick in. It didn't work against area of effect attacks or against the debris that could be sent flying her way from another attack.

Both Knights, Sylvi, from Germany and Giselle, from France, received Sacred Gears that transformed into weapons when activated, but had very little use for combat. Sylvi's Scourge of the Heathen for example was basically a tool for exorcism. When cutting something, it would do damage according to the sins of the entity cut, and leave the faithful undamaged. Problem was that she herself had sinned during her time with Diodora, even if controlled, so if she called upon her sword, she had to be very careful not to hurt herself with the sword. Two seconds after she said that, I ordered her to never use it again. It was one of the few times that I had ordered them to do anything. The way she looked at me with her bright blue eyes, behind her blonde bangs and enough to make me feel terrible for even asking her to show it to me in the first place.

Giselle's The Samaritan, much in the same vein, wasn't used for combat, but it was actually a healing artifact. Anything stabbed with it would receive the Holy Blessing of the sword and would heal any wounds, but used the Law of Equivalent Exchange. The wounds received would heal only if the person herself had the energy to heal by themselves. Any wounds, even having their hearts pierced, could be healed, as long as the Soul had enough energy left to heal the body. The problem was that Giselle was incapable of doing anything else during the process. She had to stay concentrated for as long as it took for it take effect, as The Samaritan acted as the conduit for the Soul to heal the body and the process could take days because, even if it accelerated the healing rate of the body, it didn't do it by much, when compared to Twilight Healing, only preventing it from getting any worse, while maintaining the bond between the Body and the Soul.

The other girls, all pawns, didn't have any Sacred Gear. They had all been hailed as Holy Maidens for their own efforts. Solveiga, from Norway, a girl with white hair and red eyes that reminded me painfully of Illya, was the only survivor of an attack on her parish from heretics, but she had saved several children and elderly evacuating them inside the church's cellar and hid them with herself there during the whole attack.

Carlota, from Portugal, was a Sister that was seen as the most devout in her monastery. Until people from the outside started spreading rumors that she was maybe too devout and that she was actually covering things up that she did with the other Sisters inside the walls of the monastery. It only compounded when one of the Sisters that had been excommunicated pointed the finger at her saying that she was the reason for her to be kicked out in the first place. Of course, Carlota was the reason for her to be kicked out because she was stealing inside the monastery, but that fact never came to light. With what I know now, it was obvious that this was all Diodora's doing, but I didn't say anything for the girl in front of me. She may have already figured out herself, and if not, better to leave things like this.

Carmela, from Italy, was taken from inside the Vatican itself. How in the world could a Devil survive in one of the most Holy places on the planet, I have no idea, but it turns out that the girl had been another Nun in training inside the Vatican, that would work with the local hospitals a few days a week to help ease the pain of the people who were on convalescence. When again rumors created outside started to escalate until she was almost lynched when exiting the hospital one day, only to be scooped up and brought to safety by a young man. I didn't let her continue the story anymore because it was obvious what had happened from there.

On, and on. All the girls had similar stories. Chevonne, from Lithuania, had silver hair and red eyes too, but in a tone more clear, almost brown. Candida, from Brazil, had violet hair and eyes and her skin tone was a little darker than the rest, she called herself a mulatto. Khalilah, from Israel, was taken from a mosque, and according to the teachings of her religion she shouldn't have shown her brown hair and eyes to any male before she was married. It was a strange custom, but everyone had their own, so I'm not here to judge. Naiara, black haired and dark eyed girl from Mexico, was always with a stern expression on her face. It was hard for me to talk to her, but since she had a pale complexity on her skin, it made it easy to know when she was flustered, even if her face didn't show. And finally Tomoko, the only Japanese of the bunch. With black hair and black eyes, at first I thought that she would be able to blend in quite easily on Kuoh, but as it turns out, she was the oldest of them all, being alive since the Taisho period, when girls were just starting to even go to school, never mind to the same school as boys.

Anyway, right now, I'm accompanying them through a tour of the city, pointing out places of interest, and had to smile to myself to the way the girls eyes lit up when they saw something new and interesting. In certain ways they were too sheltered and in others they were finally gaining the confidence to be assertive themselves after years upon years of living in servitude either to their faith or for a Devil. It was nice to see that actually.

During the tour I took them to eat ice cream and even watch a movie. It was a rerun of an old movie about a dog who died waiting for its master to come back from war. The girls all came out of the theater bawling like children. Even if the end was rather bittersweet, I didn't think it would have such an effect on them.

But one thing had me on edge. During the whole time we were out, I could feel someone else watching me. It was that same feeling I felt just before being spirited away. Almost like Rin and Sakura, but not quite the same. I don't know why they were following me, or if it was just coincidence that they were close, but as I said before. I don't believe in coincidences so much. I did everything to make sure the girls didn't realize that I was spending more and more time scanning the crowds, but the scent sometimes got stronger, closer and other times fainter, until it disappeared once or twice, before returning again. That was the reason I didn't call out to them yet because if I was really being tailed, they wouldn't change so much their distance from me.

Either that or the person doing the tailing was an amateur.

It was still the middle of the afternoon so I guided the girls around to some window shopping, which to my surprise they didn't understand the appeal of. Then it hit me, and I shouldn't have been surprised at all. They weren't used to the consumerism that plagued today's society so they shouldn't know why doing that was something that all girls their apparent age did nowadays.

I took them instead to an arcade and they were surprisingly curious about the slew of sounds and lights, but didn't have any interest in playing any of the games. Margareth even said she felt bad about the moles when I introduced them to the Whack'a'Mole, which in turn made me feel bad about her too. The only game that actually got them interested was the crane game, but although they looked curious, they didn't actually wanted to play or even let me play it for them.

We left the place and our silent pursuer still didn't made himself known. We walked around a park, which was morbid for me because it was the same one where Ise was turned and where I killed my first Fallen. Thankfully they sat on a completely opposite side of it and spend the next twenty minutes feeding popcorn for the birds. It was a surprisingly peaceful atmosphere, and I only felt bad for not thinking ahead. If I had, I could have made lunchboxes for us and we could eat on the shade of one of the trees, but alas, I didn't.

Thinking about it now, I could feel the happiness radiating from the girls, through the linked King Piece in me, and that was enough for me to cut it off again. If they were happy, that was enough. There was no need to try and get them to do anything more, or for me to do anything too. But before I cut the link I could also feel some disappointment from the girls that were still at the dorm, and that made me frown.

There were six on my house, plus fifteen on the dorm. Twenty one in total. Calculating in my head I made a decision and voiced it for the girls.

"Wait here for me, okay?" I said getting up from my bench. "I'll be right back."

Before they could say anything I took off in the direction of the shopping district again. It was easy to find the right store, and to make sure that they would deliver the goods to my house by the evening. I had to pay extra for that actually, but they accepted easily enough.

My business done, I was coming back to the girls when I realized that my tail hadn't followed me, instead it was talking with the girls. Someone wearing a trench coat and a hat, that from behind, all I could tell was that the person was somewhat smaller than me. Before I could get near enough tough, the person bowed to the girls and walked to the other side of the park, contrary of the one I came from.

"Who was that?" I asked them as soon as I was in hearing range.

The girls looked at each other then back at me. "We don't know, Shirou-sama." Alberta was the one who answered. "That person came to us and started asking questions about you all of a sudden without even an introduction."

"Yeah. We were told by Akeno-sama not to talk with strangers, even if Japan is considered peaceful, so we tried to be polite and refused to talk, but that person was quite insistent." Margareth chimed in then.

When they didn't said anything else, I turned back to the place where the trench coat wearing person disappeared to and shook my head. Whoever it was, was still hidden and looking in our direction, even if I couldn't see. I looked back at the girls and my tone become more warm. "No matter. We need to go back home now. I still have to prepare dinner and do my nightly routine." They didn't know what I referred to as my nightly routine was, because I didn't tell them that it was the time I went to my workshop to cast my beacon, but thankfully I didn't have to make an order for them to not bother me about it.

"Ah, of course, Shirou-sama." Naiara was the one to answer, but I could see the tinge of disappointment in all their faces, but they were resolute in following me as well.

"Don't worry." I told them without thinking. "We can have other outings in the future."

Their eyes lit up again, and their expression went to something I could only call fierce, even if it was somewhat diminished by the sheer cuteness of her face when she raised her fist in front of her face. "I have to brush up on my skills them. I almost lost today." Sylvi said, and I bit my tongue. It was hard for me to hold back from patting their heads.

The whole way back, our tail continued to observe us without really doing anything. It wasn't exactly a new thing for me, being under surveillance, but it usually was from people or things far more skilled than this one, whoever it was.

I walked inside the house and called. "I'm home." The girls echoed behind me, before they too entered.

"Welcome back." Asia answered from inside the house. "Onii-chan, can you help me with my homework? Akeno-san isn't at home, and the other girls are all sulking in their rooms."

My eyebrows shot up. "Sulking?"

"Yes, because they lost today." She answered me dutifully, and continued either not noticing or electing to ignore my confusion. "And the only one who could teach me anything would be Xuelan-san, but she and Karlamine-san are training since early."

As if summoned by the words I heard the sound of a bokutou hitting something followed by a 'kyaa' coming from the backyard. "I see. Well, can I change first?"

Her face turning up to a beaming smile. "Sure!" And then turned to the other girls. "Let's go make sure the others did their parts, alright?"

The girls nodded their assents and bid their goodbyes from me, going through the corridor back to the dorm. I looked at their retreating backs, sighing and moving to do just what I had said before.

After the changing clothes and helping Asia with her homework, I went to the workshop and spent half hour on the beacon. I looked over at my scattered notes on the workbench thinking about organizing them, but I was too sweaty at the moment to handle paper, so I decided against it.

I went back to the house only to find it eerily quiet. No sounds came from it and it was in fact completely dark. I know that Devils can see in the dark, but I can't, so one of the rules I had put was that if you were inside the room, unless you were sleeping, the lights should be on during night time. Opening the door and flipping the switch on I discovered that the house was completely empty, but when I looked at the corridor, there were lights on in the dorm, so the girls must have gone there.

My alarms didn't went off, so there shouldn't have been anyone inside the house or the dorm that wasn't already keyed to it and I wasn't feeling any particularly different scent. With that in mind, I went to the bathroom to clean myself, then I went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, since today was Sunday it was my day to have the kitchen all to myself. It left me oddly giddy with the prospect of cooking after an entire week of only doing it in the mornings.

During the whole time I was preparing no one came back inside the house, and I was thinking about having to go call them out to eat when I heard a high pitched squeal and a blonde and white blur tackled my side, just as I let go of the pot on the table, making me take three steps back to right myself up again. "Thank you, Onii-chan!" Asia said jumping in place while still holding me tightly.

"Huh... You're... welcome...?" I answered, not quite sure of what she was talking about.

"Shirou-dono, thank you very much for your thoughts but they were unnecessary." Karlamine appeared from the same hallway, while holding a plushie toy in the form of a knight's armor to her bosom. Although her words were hard, her face was slightly flushed.

I finally realized what had the blonde girl draped around my waist at that point. The plush toys I had bought for the girls and sent home during the outing. I had selected one for each girl, wrapped and named them up. I think the only reason they decided to make that delivery for me was because that sale was the most they sold all weekend in a single transaction.

As if summoned by that thought, all the girls that were on the dormitory rushed inside the dining room and started piling up on me, almost knocking me down. The chorus of 'thank yous' was loud, maybe because it had been so quiet inside the house until that point.

It took some time to get them to release me, but not before I patted each and every single one of them, even a blushing and stuttering Xuelan and a pink faced Marion, who received respectively a panda bear and a penguin dressed as a maid. Asia herself had received a bunny. Anyway, after I disentangled myself from all of them, I was about to get the pot back to the kitchen to reheat dinner when Marion and Mihae stopped me and took care of it themselves.

Out of all the girls there, the only one who wasn't present at the moment was Akeno, Rias had called her earlier on the day and she hadn't come back since. I shrugged off that because it wasn't the first time she spent so much time away from the house. Asia too would sometimes disappear for good portions of the day when Rias called her.

Dinner went by surprisingly swiftly after that and I was left alone in the living room, doing my neglected homework. I was supposed to be done with it yesterday, but one thing led to another and here I am. The girls all went to bed not long after dinner and I was just getting up to take a bath when the front door of the house opened and I heard the Shrine Maiden's voice call. "I'm home."

I turned back to the door and answered. "Welcome back." Then looked at her face and saw the exhaustion there. "Are you okay?"

She smiled thinly at me, before nodding. "Don't worry, just that there was some business today that required my presence."

I nodded. Whatever Rias had called her for, at least she didn't seem hurt, so it wasn't like they had to hunt a Stray or anything, or at least not one strong enough to faze the brunette. "There's dinner for you on the kitchen." I said turning my back to her. "I'm going to take a bath now."

"Okay..." She let out an exhausted sigh and I went to my room, leaving my textbooks there and getting a change of clothes.

After spending some time soaking up, I left the bath and was putting on my underwear when I heard the door behind me open. Quickly I pulled it up and was about to turn and yell to whoever it was to close it again when I felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around my torso from the back, tightly.

I craned my neck around to see who it was but only the bundle of black hair wouldn't be enough, but what gave away were her scent and the orange ribbon tied on her hair. "A-Akeno?"

"Thank you." She said, voice watery even while she hugged my naked back. "Thank you, Shirou."

At least now I was somewhat prepared for that, what with the tackle I received from... practically everyone earlier. "You're welcome." I answered her tenderly. "You guys deserve some happiness after all."

She stiffened on my back for a second then relaxed. "Of course." She said after a moment. "You gave one for everyone?"

"Yes." I answered but didn't turn. It was starting to get awkward, what with me being in my underwear and she was draped around my back.

She hugged me tightly again for another second then got off. "Thank you." Her tone wasn't the same watery one this time, then she took a step back and I heard her hiss as if in pain.

Immediately I turned to look at what had done that, but she was looking at my torso with a pained expression on her face. I followed her line of sight and realized what she was seeing. All the scars that Avalon hadn't been able to heal during my lifetime of battles. I pulled the shirt that was dangling from the basket and was about to put it on when her hands touched my chest.

"So many of them..." She said almost in a whisper.

"Yeah. A lifetime's worth." I answered bitterly, and tried again to pull the shirt on, but she moved and put both her hands and her face sideways on my chest.

"It's things like this that make me realize that..." She said but didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to.

"I'm really not who I look like, right?" I answered her.

"Yeah." She said without moving, and I took the moment to untangle my arm from the shirt and put a hand on her back and rest my chin on her head. "Most of the time you look like any of us... a teenager who has something in your past, but..." She traced a hand through one of the scars at my side, and it tickled a little. She turned her head up to look at me and I swear she was taking lessons from Asia on the cuteness department. She turned her violet eyes completely to me and there was so much empathy in them that I had to force myself not to look away. "You carry the story of your life in your body like this."

I smiled down at her then looked up at the ceiling for a moment before shaking my head. "No, all this you're seeing, is not even half of everything I went through." I said, half to her, half to myself. I had noticed this a long time ago, after my first few weeks on this place actually. "All these scars are from before I turned twenty. I should have much more than this, but whatever happened during that accident, it reverted me back to this."

When I looked down at her again she was horrified. Her breath caught in her throat as she said. "Shirou..."

I patted her head with a smile on my face. "Don't worry. It was a long time ago for me, and it doesn't do anything extra for me aside from feeling a little stiff every now and then."

She closed her eyes, leaning in on my hand for a moment, before rubbing her cheek on my chest again and finally letting me go. This was getting awkward, so I thought about changing the subject while finally pulling my shirt back on. "Did you like it?" I asked only for her to look at me blankly for a moment before her face began tinging with red. Only then I realized my blunder with the situation, and my face grew hot as I completed hastily. "The plush toy? Did you like it?"

She took a step back, as if forced to. "The plush toy?" She asked again bewildered, before realization hit her eyes. "Yes. Inari is really cute." She said while her face tinted even redder.

"Inari?" I asked confused while pulling my pants on just as fast.

"Yes." She answered, and her smile was one of those genuine things that only children had, free of worries or second meanings.

"Did you already named it?" I had to ask. I had left it on her room, but I'm sure it didn't have a name then.

"Yes." Her smile didn't change at all from the one she had before.

"I see..." I had no idea what to make of that. "That's... good?" It came out as a question, more than a statement.

"Yes." She said a third time, then her head suddenly snapped to my face. It was only then that I realized that the entire time she stepped back she was looking at my chest. Then her face grew another shade of red. "I'll be going to my room now." She turned and darted out.

I only had time to tilt my head to the side and think about what just happened. The first thing that came to mind was the obvious. I'm not that dense to not realize that my body is really fit, after all the work out I had done over the years, I had very little fat in my body, but it was still somewhat less than it was before, because of the time I spent homeless burned right through a lot of the protein reserves on my body, once the fat reserves were gone. But I dismissed that thought because Akeno had never been shy about seeing a body naked. Hell, she invaded the bathroom when she knew I was inside and probably naked, so that wasn't it. The second thought that came was probably about the scars on my body. They weren't the prettiest things to look at, and even a sadist like she proclaimed to be, wouldn't feel well in seeing the marks that had been tore up in my body. And that was only the visible ones. Avalon could heal me from almost anything, but sometimes when a particularly nasty hit found its mark, it still scarred.

Whatever had made her flush like that suddenly was something that I couldn't discern, so I let it go for now.

Tomorrow would be another week, and more and more problems would occur, I'm sure.

* * *

 **A/N:** About the Noble Phantasms that aren't from canon or that were altered from canon to be used on this fic, I'll be putting them at the end of the chapters, like this one. In this chapter I'll put the ones I used on early chapters that I didn't put before.

 **Noble Phantasms**

 **Name : Svalinn  
History: **A legendary shield which protects the land against the sun in the Norse Mythology. It was taken from the sky to be used by Odin during Ragnarok.  
 **Properties : **A reversible shield that protects perfectly against either Cold or Fire, depending on the side is used, but only when projected as a conceptual weapon, like Rho Aias.  
 **Type** : N/A  
 **Rank** : N/A  
 **Range** : N/A  
 **Targets** : N/A  
 **Owner** : Odin

 **Name : Moly  
** **History** **:** During Homer's Odyssey, Hermes gave this herb to Odysseus to protect him from Circe's magic when he went to her home to rescue his friends. After being used, the herb was turned into a dagger that was presented to Odysseus to continue using during his journey.  
 **Properties :** When this Dagger is in contact with the blood inside of a still living creature, that creature becomes unable to perform any gathering of mana and the effects of any spell, ritual or enchantment that require mana can't affect them.  
 **Type : **Anti-Unit (self)  
 **Rank : **C  
 **Range :** 1  
 **Targets : **1  
 **Owner : **Odysseus

 **Name : Llofrudd  
History: **The sword used by a greek warrior tasked by Athena with killing the Phoenix, in order to use its blood to make a potion for his wife.  
 **Properties** : It's a sword specifically created to kill the Phoenix. Against anything else, is only a bronze sword.  
 **Type : **Anti-Unit (Special)  
 **Rank : **C  
 **Range : **1  
 **Targets : **1  
 **Owner : **N/A (Shirou saw this sword on Gilgamesh's Gates of Babylon or Archer's UBW. On the DxDverse it was passed down in the Phenex Family.)


	7. An Unwilling Revelation

A/N: Don't own anything

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 **An Unwilling Revelation  
**

* * *

One thing I have to grant to the person tailing me. Whoever it was, he or she was persistent. Today was Tuesday and since Sunday, when I felt it for the first time, every time I stepped out of the house, the presence was there following me around. In the way to school in the morning, back from school in the afternoons, even when I go grocery shopping, they still tailed me.

I had half a mind to corner whoever it was but so far I decided against it. For one, because I would have to lose the girls first, who still never let me get out of the house alone, and for other because it was a somewhat nostalgic feeling. I was quite sure it was a Tohsaka at this point, having felt it for again after so long, the scent of silicon mixed with sweetness of prana was a staple of the Tohsaka Jewelcraft brand of Magecraft. Never would I forget that scent, not after having lived with Rin and Sakura for so much time.

Still, I would have to confront the person sooner or later, because I was starting to get a whiff of other powers roaming around, all of them with the same scent of what passes for Holy around these parts and since I had more than twenty Devils under my protection, that wasn't good. Whoever was roaming around the city might want to attack one of the girls just because they were Devils after all. From what I discovered, the Church in this world wasn't known for be very tolerant of heretics, even if they were mislead by Devils or Fallen.

I was at the front gate of the school, waiting for the rest of the girls, while being accompanied by Marion, Chevonne, Julie, Giselle and Candida, when I caught another whiff of one of these powers that I had felt before. And it was coming from inside the school. I concentrated on it for a few more seconds, but it didn't changed the direction or position. From what I could tell it was coming from the woods that lead to the Occult Research Clubroom. I was still debating on what to do when an explosion came from the same direction and I felt a different power flare. Kiba's power. I was running in that direction before my brain had caught up with my feet.

Reinforcing my legs and feet, I ran the distance faster than it should be possible for a human, without realizing that I was doing it in broad daylight. Another explosion came from the same direction, then another. When I got to the clearing, curiously the same one where I had stabbed Asia weeks ago, what I saw was a bizarre scene. Kiba had two swords, in a scissor like position, about to cut off the head of a girl with short bobbed blue hair and a sword I hadn't seen before on her hand.

I couldn't help but reel at the impossibility. The sword on her hand was a desecration, a blasphemy, a imitation of the worst kind, and that was saying something since I am a Faker. Is this what felt like for Gilgamesh to see all my Fakes inside Unlimited Blade Works? The name of that sacrilege was Excalibur Destruction, and had the power of unleashing blasts of energy that exploded on contact, no doubt the explosions I heard before getting here were from it. But it wasn't the real Excalibur, it wasn't even a part of the real Excalibur. Sympathizing with its history, I could tell that it was a weapon forged using magic and divine powers, but it hadn't been anywhere near the real Excalibur, much less should be allowed to use the same name.

I absorbed all that in a instant while continuing to run in their direction. There was something else happening right now, and that was the resigned look of defeat on the girl's face and the look of pure rage on Kiba's. A look that I had never seen on his face before, as if all his cool had been thrown aside and all that was left was pure malice that his Devil side could muster being shown all at once.

The decision again was made on instinct. Two blunt swords shot from my sides, nailing both his hands and disarming him, before two other swords appeared one pointed at his throat and other at his heart. "Stand down, Kiba!" I ordered with as much authority as I could. He looked at me briefly and I thought that he wouldn't, but then he visibly reigned in his temper.

"Sorry, Sempai, but this was a duel agreed by both parties, you shouldn't interfere." He said and I was slightly taken aback, but didn't let it show on my face.

"Whatever this was, you were about to kill someone who had resigned herself to that fate. From the way you were acting, filled with rage, even if she deserves that fate, I don't believe you would get any satisfaction from the action, so I repeat. Stand down." I took another step towards them. "Now."

He looked at me with a troubled expression, then took a step back away from the girl, before bowing to her. "I'm sorry. My judgment was clouded over and I forgot myself in the battle lust, ruining our duel."

The girl that was looking wide eyed at me whipped her head to him, her expression turned to something more hard, but still surprised. "No. That was what I agreed to. I was resigned to whatever fate awaited me when I was asked to carry on the mission to deliver the message for a Devil." She said the last part a little scathingly, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Devil, Human, Fallen, Youkai." I began and she turned back to me. "I doesn't matter who or what they are, what matters are their actions. I don't care who you are, but as long as I'm around, I ask you to not make generalizations of that type. I have yet to see homogeneity in any species on this world." Except for Fallen, who so far were the only species that I couldn't see any good side on after those four I killed.

"And who do you think you are?" She said to me, face hardened.

"I am myself, little girl." I answered back, getting close to her and dismissing the floating swords. "And right now you are inside the territory of a Devil that I consider a friend, in a duel with a student inside the school that I attend. I don't care who or what you are, or the reasons for this duel to have happened, but no one needs to die while I'm around that does not deserve it." Or doesn't leave another choice. I looked at the sword on her hand. "Not even someone wielding a desecration like that." I almost spat at it.

"How dare you." She sprung up. "How can you call this Holy Sword a desecration." Even Kiba looked at me perplexed at my declaration. "This is Excalibur Destruction, one of the seven pieces of the of Holy Sword Excalibur that were reforged into-"

"That is the desecration." I answered her angrily while taking another step in her direction, practically looming over the girl who looked cowed despite the fact that she was armed with a sword that could create gouges in the earth and I was disarmed. "Calling that piece of metal _Excalibur_. Do you even know the fate of the original Excalibur, little girl?"

"Ex-" She began and I cut her off.

"Do you even know what the original Excalibur was?" I continued, taking another step and she took a step back.

"Tha-" She tried again, but again I cut her off.

"Excalibur, the Ultimate Holy Sword. Have you ever seen it, have you ever felt it?" I don't blame the others from not answering me. I wasn't actually listening at this point. I was furious, and I hardly ever explode like this on anyone, but this was one of the things I could not let go. Excalibur was the sword Saber had used during our time in the Grail War, it was closely tied to Avalon inside of me. If this was Excalibur in any shape or form, it would have resonated with it. It had not, and only took me a glance at it to realize why.

"Look here-" The girl turned her dark yellow, almost dusk colored eyes up to mine, working herself up in a proper rage, before I cut her off one more time.

"That's not a fragment of Excalibur." I said, voice growing louder with each word, while I gritted my teeth. "This is a Holy Sword, but it was not forged from a fragment of Excalibur!"

"And how do you know that, heretic?" She finally managed to complete a sentence without me cutting her off.

"Because Excalibur was never destroyed in the first place. It was Caliburn that was broken. Don't confuse one with the other, and even then this sword was not made from its remains either." I shouted at her face and she looked at me with knitted brows, dumbfounded. "Excalibur was delivered back to the Lady of the Lake by Bedivere at King Arthur's request on her death bed. After that it was never seen again. It has gone back to where it was forged by the planet itself, and being guarded by the Fae ever since. No one was ever able to repeat the feat of receiving the right to wield that blade again after it was returned to its resting place."

"And why do you think you know that?" She answered, and just at that moment, still within my rage filled haze I noticed that we weren't the only ones on the clearing, besides Kiba and the girls that had came with me from the front gate. There was another girl that I didn't recognize, a blonde with twintails wearing the same catsuit that the bluenette was wearing, below a cape that looked vaguely like a Sister robe, with a rosario on her neck. Ise, Koneko and Saji of all people too were watching us, and I could feel Rias and Akeno getting close, as well. But I noticed all that peripherally.

"Because I know. It's part of who I am." I couldn't exactly explain that part, even more in the mindset I was at the moment. "I know everything about any sword I see."

She took two steps back and sheathed her blade. It was only then that I realized what I was saying and, more importantly, where I was.

Another universe.

Even if that sword wasn't part of the original Excalibur as I was sure, the Excalibur of this world could have had a different fate from the one on mine. That feeling was only compounded when the girl whipped around and from nowhere another sword came into view and the glimpse I caught of it was enough to hammer in the point I was just making myself about.

"Durandal." I answered the unspoken question. A different Durandal with a different legend. At least, somewhat different. Without thinking I summoned the Durandal I knew and repeated. "Durandal."

"What?" The girl looked at me confused while I examined my Durandal. Mine was known as The Peerless Sword. It was originally forged as a long sword wielded by Hector who converted it into the spear Durindina, before losing its features and becoming Durandal. After that it was given to the King of Charlemagne of the Frankish Empire by an angel and then awarded to Roland for his bravery. Roland even tried to break it on his death bed so it would not fall on his enemies hands, but couldn't.

The sword on the girl's hands however had a similar legend but instead of being converted from Durindina, it was forged as Durandal from the beginning and was gifted to Roland by the King Chalemagne. It didn't had its Holy properties until it was used in combat against an army a hundred thousand men strong where Roland emerged victorious. It was then that it was blessed by an angel as a gift to Roland for the prowess he had displayed on the battlefield while wielding it.

They were similar legends, but fundamentally different. And again I had to remember the fact that I was not in my world. "You want the history of my Durandal or yours?" I asked the girl, more for the sake of talking something during the lull than to answer her properly.

"You know that this is Durandal? How can you not be awed by this blade if you know?" She said, her voice somewhat taken aback.

"Because..." I dismissed my Durandal and invoked a copy of her own. "For me is just a sword." The shock on her face was visible, as she looked at my reproduction and I'm sure she could feel its properties. "Few swords really get a reaction out of me." I dismissed the sword again. "And two of them are Excalibur and Caliburn."

"What?" She said again, dumbly.

"That sword on your waist." I said pointing to the scabbard. "And that one wrapped around that other girl's wrist. Their names are _Excalibur_ Explosion and _Excalibur_ Mimic." I said both names as viciously as I could. "But the name is all they have in common with the Sword of Promised Victory. Nothing more."

"Shirou-sama." Carmela called me and was about to interpose herself between me and this girl when I held a hand in front of her.

"Go back. There's no need for that." The brown haired girl looked at me for a moment before nodding and stepping back. I turned back to the blunette, before looking over to Knight of Rias' Peerage. "Now, I don't know what that was about, but Kiba, what did I teach you during training camp?"

The boy looked chastised by that. "Do not be driven by emotion on the battlefield. Nine out of ten times you'll regret it." He quoted me.

"Sempai. What..." Ise began but whatever he was going to say was cut off by the blonde twintailed girl who somehow appeared beside the Durandal wielder.

"That should go for you as well, Xenovia!" She said, pulling on her ear. "How can you show Durandal here in front of so many Devils without warning?"

I frowned at the girl, but decided not to comment on her choice of words. "I'm sorry for what my underclassman did." I said nodding to the blonde. "Even if it was a duel, rage can only cloud the mind of the combatant and if not fueled properly only leads to self destruction." I turned back to Kiba. "If you think you can duel without being overcome with rage again, then I'll step back, but if not, I suggest you postpone this."

"Of course, Sempai." He bowed back to me, his face continued to show that my scolding was working on him, but at the same time he was troubled, so I threw him an olive branch.

"If you want, you can talk with me later about whatever happened."

He looked back at me, then grimaced but nodded.

"Now," I looked back at the blonde girl who was still scolding her colleague. "Hmmm... I'm sorry, I didn't even introduce myself. I'm-"

"Emiya Shirou. Third Year at Kuoh Academy and a mystery." The girl answered without looking at me, before turning and bowing to me. "Shidou Irina, Exorcist with the Protestant Church and Holy Sword wielder, currently wielding Excalibur Mimic."

The forthcoming answer wasn't what I expected, much less that she knew about me.

"This troublemaker here" She said, poking the blunette in the head with a pointed finger. "is Xenovia Quarta, also an Exorcist, and we are here on official business for the Church."

"I see, and you know about me... How exactly?"

"You are a Person of Interest around this city. We received a dossier with all the Persons of Interest before being sent on this mission, and you were one of them. A Magician who can wield both Holy Swords and Demonic Weapons with ease without falling on either side of the spectrum." She said, smiling cheerfully. "Some call you a heretic, while others call you a saint. No one actually knows what are your allegiances, but since you stated that..." She paused at that and her cheerful face turned into fierce and cold in a heartbeat. "... you don't care about who or what others are, but what their actions tell you, I can see that you are not one of the Faith."

"Irina?" To my surprise it was Carmela who answered.

The twintailed girl looked at the former Sister beside me, and smiled brightly again. Then she took a step forward, frowned then scowled. "I see that you also became corrupted by the-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence, because I clonked her beside the face with Kanshou, downing her on the ground, and a second later had both Kanshou and Bakuya in scissor position around her neck, mirroring what Kiba was doing earlier. "You finish that sentence only after you hear her story. Otherwise you would be the one called in for the Sin of Pride in the form of prejudice against those who you know nothing about." I said leaning an inch from her face, while she was down on the ground, making sure she had her eyes on me. I sneered down at her for a moment, before I got up leaving the swords there, embedded on the ground and only dismissed them after turning my back to her. I took the three steps back to where Carmela was still stunned and patted her head smiling down at the girl, before continuing down the path half turning my head and calling out loud. "Kiba, now that I thought about it, if you want to duel her again, I suggest doing somewhere and sometime else, and not on school grounds in the middle of the day."

His face flushed something fierce, and he scratched his cheek with a finger. "Yeah. Sorry about that, Sempai."

Still, one thing still bothers me. The only ones who ever saw me wielding a demonic weapon were either members of the Phenex Clan, the Gremory Clan, the former Holy Maidens and Ajuka.

How in the world had the Church came across that information?

Rias and Akeno finally appeared on the clearing just before my swords disappeared from Shidou's neck. "Shirou!" I heard the shrill cry from the redhead. "What do you think you are doing?"

I turned to her. "I already said this once, Rias. I don't care who you are, a Devil, an Angel, a Human or a Fallen. If someone threatens my family, I act on instinct."

"But they are here on official business from the church!" She shouted even thought she was already on my face. "We had an agreement with them!"

"And I don't play with Devil's or the Church's politics!" I shouted back. "I'm human and don't play by those rules. I only care about those that are under my protection. If those politics affect them, I will always be there to defend them. You know that better than anyone else."

She looked hard at me again. "And what in the Maou's name did Irina do to warrant her being pinned to the ground with two swords?"

"She was about to offend one of mine! Without knowing her story! If that isn't the worst kind of prejudice, then I don't know what is!" I continued the shouting match with the redhead. "If she wants to talk about anything about any of the people under my roof they should first know their history instead of assuming things because of what they are! If that is what the Church is teaching those two, then I'm glad to not be a devout." I reeled my temper back in again. "But don't get me wrong, I have met several unsavory people from the Devil's side as well, and so far none from the Fallen had made me change my mind about them. From the Church, these two so far only told me that one is a bigot and the other is a hothead. If they don't interfere with me and my business they are free to do what they want, but the moment they offend anyone I care about, there's no quarter to be given."

"Big words coming from a heretic." The twintailed said from her position, getting up from the ground.

"Irina, don't do that!" Ise said sufferingly from the sideline.

"Heretic?" I said over Rias' head, since the redhead had interposed herself between me and the blonde. "What is the definition of that word in your bigoted mind? Tell me, is anyone that disagrees with your views of the world a heretic?"

"Of course. I'm a devout follower of the Lord's teachings. Not that an heretic like you-" She was interrupted when I shouted back at her.

"And isn't one of those teachings something about acceptance? Anything about not making judgments because the Lord will judge when their time comes? That we shouldn't judge because He will?" She looked at me bewildered, while I continued. "I know about the teachings of God, had to learn them to be able to live here, so don't think that just because I'm not a follower I don't understand them." Not to mention all the hunts I had done together with Executors and Priests back in my world. "I know them very well, and I have the clear mind to not let the views of Men cloud my own judgment of what happens in front of me. Learn first, then you can draw your own conclusions."

The girl was redfaced in anger, but didn't say anything else. I looked down at the Devil in front of me for a second because I had unconsciously started stepping forward and she didn't move. She was practically using her own body to stop me. I clicked my tongue and turned my back once again to them. At some point, all the girls on my group, with the exception of Xuelan, Mihae and Karlamine had come to the clearing. I waved them back in the direction of the exit.

I turned back to Rias. "My apologies if whatever I said hit some nerves with anyone present, but I stand by my words." I bowed to them. "Have a good day." Then continued down to the front gate.

I realized belatedly that I basically did exactly what I had stopped Kiba from doing earlier when I came here in the first place. Struck both of the girls with rage clouding my mind.

Talk about hypocritical.

* * *

That night, as soon as I came back inside the house from my daily beacon casting, I was accosted by Mihae and Xuelan wanting to know details of what had happened. I didn't actually know anything aside from the duel and that they were in some kind of mission inside the Gremory territory, so I couldn't actually explain for them what happened.

After getting home tonight, I found that my alarms were blaring non-stop, as someone had tried to enter the yard, but hadn't got very far. Whoever it was had been sloppy, didn't have any mystic capabilities or worse, had them and simply tripped my triggers anyway. In the end, I resetted my alarms back and did a throughout sweep of the house for any mystical traps. For the low tech bugs possibly being used, I had Akeno simply overcharge the walls with her powers, while making sure she didn't accidentally hit any of the wires on the walls. It was a good training for her Structural Analysis, and she did way better than I was hoping, only tripping one circuit breaker in the process because she got sloppy on the last room, the former master bedroom, and tried to go faster.

During the process of chastising her about never doing things halfway when practicing Magecraft, I finally relented and let the rest of the girls enter the house again. At least whoever tried to enter, only tripped the alarms on the house and not on the dorms. I would be a pain to go through the whole dormitory otherwise.

Getting back on track, it was Akeno who came to the rescue in this case, because apparently Rias' hadn't said for her to keep her mouth shut about the subject of the Exorcists being on the city. "A few days ago, three Excalibur pieces were stolen from the Church." She began and I already had to stop her.

"Three pieces?" I said, disbelievingly. "How many pieces are there in total?"

"Seven," she answered without missing a beat. "and they sent those two here because they were tracked down to Kuoh Town. Since they are Holy Swords and just by getting near a Devil, they can cause unrepairable damage, the Gremorys agreed to let them have free reign on the city until they recover the swords."

That... explains a lot. "I see." I said, still grimacing at the prospect of having Holy Swords around the girls under my protection. Even more in the hands of a bigot, a hothead and worse, unknowns. "Call everyone to the lobby of the dorm." I said turning to Xuelan, Mihae and Asia who were listening in with me.

"What are you going to do, Shirou?" Akeno asked me while I got up from the couch we were sitting on.

"Nothing much, just warn them all about the risks around the city. They deserve to know." I shook my head. "No, they have to know."

She grimaced, but didn't say anything. She too understood the need for that. A few minutes later I had the whole slew of girls on the lobby of the dorm and was going over the finer points of what they should or shouldn't do for their protection when the doorbell for the house chimed. I nodded to Akeno, who nodded back and went to the door accompanied by Marion and Karlamine. One of the points I was making with them right at that moment was to never be alone, and if they needed to break from the group, always be on groups of at least three people. I needed to buy phones for them at some point. Nowadays everyone had cellphones and I was starting to see the merits of that form of communication.

Not everyone could teleport to deliver a message.

Two minutes later, Akeno came back inside the dorm with a frown on her face and called for my attention with a wave of her hand. I turned back to the girls and asked if they had any questions, then went with the brunette when they shook their heads in negative.

I almost wish I hadn't, because there, sitting on my couch were both the blonde bigot and the blunette hothead, though they seemed somewhat more subdued now. "Good evening." I said as coldly as I could while still being polite. "Marion, can you pour us some tea?" I asked the other girl on the far side of the room who was closest to the kitchen with a more warm smile. The girl nodded and I took a seat across from the guests. "Now, what do I owe the... _pleasure..._ of your visit?" I emphasized the word 'pleasure' a bit, to make sure they understood that there was nothing pleasant in that situation. I was being petty, I know, but can you really blame me?

"We came first to apologize." The blonde said, while bowing her head and pulling her friend with her down. "My words were thoughtless during our confrontation earlier and after meditating on yours I could see the truth in them, and for that I came here to do exactly what you suggested." Her head came back up, and she looked directly on my eyes. "I came to get the story behind them being Devils."

"And also," The blunette continued. "understand how can you wield a Holy Sword without being a Wielder."

I frowned at that. "For the first, I can tell you part of their stories, but not all since its part of their privacy, and I don't like to pry on my tenants affairs too much, unless it is for their protection." Then my frown deepened. "As for the second, I'm sorry but that isn't something I'm allowed to discuss with someone that isn't already aware of the situation."

Quarta grimaced. "I see. That's... a shame, really. I wished to be able to duel with someone who was a Wielder, but the Church frowns upon such practices." As soon as her words came out, a slap on the back of her head came from the blonde. "As you can see." She completed while lifting a hand to rub on the offended part of her body.

Shidou blushed at that. "I'm sorry for my behavior, but it's something we don't agree with, me and her."

"No problems." At this point Marion came back with the tea and I thanked her. Akeno sat beside me, while Marion and Karlamine stood behind me. The other girls were all on the dorm. "Well, let me start by saying this. All the girls that live on the dorm plus Asia, aside from five of them that live here in the main house, were all Holy Maidens as proclaimed by the Church or other religions before falling and being either excommunicated or shunned by their peers, but not one of them are Devils by choice."

I then proceeded to tell them the tale of them all in general, since they were all similar. How they were tricked by a Devil and, after months or even years of torture were turned and brainwashed to serve said Devil.

"And that's only the general story. Every single one of them has a different tale and hails from a different location, but I can say that not one of them had a choice in the matter." I finished the tale and during the story both girls grimaced and paled in equal amounts until the point where I thought Shidou would break the color pallette and go right back to black, so white her face had become.

After having absorbed the story for a few more moments, the twintailed girl grimaced once more. "I see now why you were so angry with the thoughtless remark I was about to make earlier today. If you don't mind, could we talk with them?"

"That's up to them. I don't control my tenants." Even if I could order them to, I wouldn't.

She nodded at that and I turned to Karlamine behind me. She nodded, understanding the silent request, and gone she was.

The first to come was Asia. "Onii-chan, are these...?"

"Yes. They are from the Church-" I was cut off by Quarta.

"Asia Argento, wielder of the Twilight Healing." She said curtly, and my head snapped to her while I narrowed my eyes. The girl forcibly reigned in her temper. "I was somewhat appalled when I heard that you were excommunicated from the Church, but after hearing the story from Emiya, I understand your circumstances and ask for forgiveness for my actions and thoughts on the matter."

"Wha-What? Onii-chan? What?" Asia whipped her head from the girl to me to the girl again, without understanding what was happening.

"They came here with preconceptions about yours, and the other girls, situations and now that they have a better understanding they are offering their apologies." I explained while still looking at them with narrowed eyes.

"Ah." Her eyes lit up with understanding, before turning back to the the duo. "There's no need for that, erm..."

"Xenovia. Xenovia Quarta. And this here is Irina Shidou, or Shidou Irina as is the custom in this country."

"Xenovia-san. There's no need for that. The Lord" She grimaced at the mention, when she received the retribution, but soldiered on. "sometimes writes right by crooked lines." She smiled at the girl, and it was something so pure that I doubt either of them would believe that she was a Devil if they weren't undoubtedly feeling her right at that moment. "I still believe that my mission isn't over, and that I can do it better being a Devil than being dead."

Both the girls gasped at that, and Shidou was the one who to voice the word. "Dead?!"

"Yes." She continued still smiling, but I grimaced at the memory. If I had been faster, if I had trusted my instincts, if I hadn't basically abandoned her to those Fallen, she possibly wouldn't be a Devil at this point. She wouldn't have to answer to these questions, she wouldn't- "It wasn't your fault, Onii-chan." I realized at that moment, that I was gritting my teeth and my jaw was hurting so hard I was clenching it. Both girls across from me were looking at me with slightly wary eyes. Akeno seemed to be the only one who wasn't worried, but even she had put a hand on my upper arm.

"Sorry." I said forcing myself to calm down, banishing the memory for now.

The former Sister looked at me a moment longer then smiled again, and turned to the other two. "Yes. Unfortunately, after being ejected from the Church, the only ones who took me in were the Fallen, but even then it was only so they could extract my Sacred Gear. They almost succeeded too. If it wasn't for Onii-chan, Ise-san and Rias-sama, I would be dead now."

Both looked troubled by the admission, but didn't said anything. "She's alright now." The Shrine Maiden by my side continued. "She has friends, a home and a family." Then she turned to me and wore a thin sly smile. "Two families, actually."

"Yes." The blonde concurred immediately. "So, don't worry about me." After smiling at the girls for a few more moments, she turned to me again. "Onii-chan, the girls want to know if you want to eat dinner with them today. Some of them are scared." She said the last part in a hushed tone that if the girls on the other couch heard they didn't made any mention to acknowledge.

Thinking that maybe the two girls would end up talking with most of my tenants, I nodded to the blonde. "Tell them that we'll probably have two guests, plus everyone on the house for tonight's dinner."

"Alright." She got up and smiled at me. "I'll be going now." She bowed to the guests and turned.

In the end, one by one, the ex-Holy Maidens all came in to the room and told their stories to the two Exorcists. After the seventh though, we all went to dinner in the dorm, and I could see that even if they were trying very hard to be polite, all the girls were somewhat leery of the two additions to the table. All except for the ones that had already talked with them.

By the end of the ordeal, both exorcists had several more shades of darkness over their eyes than they had at the beginning of the night when they came to my doorstep, obviously troubled by the situation that my tenants were in. At least I made sure that they didn't talk about the Pieces they had linked to me or about the... problems... such arrangement caused. It was enough for them to be already down about it.

I offered them a place to stay, though they declined. The dorm did have several rooms empty, but they said that they already had booked a hotel in the city and they would start their search for the Excaliburs early the next day. In the end I had to change slightly my opinion of Shidou at least. She was still a bigot at heart, but at least she was willing to try and listen to the other side before passing judgment, which was more than what I could say about several people I met in my time.

Another thing that I realized was that they came here unarmed, at least Shidou had, since I think Quarta could summon her Durandal at will. But from their stances ever since they stepped inside they were in fact trying to get answers, and not start a fight, so I didn't exactly fault them. Hell, by the end I had already pegged Quarta to be a great friend and sparring partner for Karlamine in the future if they got the chance to talk informally, what with the way both of them acted Knights of old, and held themselves to higher standards.

Shidou was a unknown quantity though. I couldn't exactly pin her down as nothing but an extremely devout follower of her religion, and even if she did come here to get answers before forming her opinions, I have no doubt that she would cut all of the ex-Holy Maidens down without a second thought if it came down to it. She appeared to be a bright and cheerful girl, but extremists are the worst kind of religious types, and she was doing everything in her power to demonstrate that she was just that.

I'll have to keep an eye on her, while making sure my tenants are safe, while hoping to wrap this thing up before Rin comes for me, while making sure that the girls are seen to when I'm gone, while still going to school. And during all that I have to find time to train Shitori's group, spar with Ise and Kiba, try to maintain the girls here happy and find some way for them to get new and good Kings.

Somehow I feel like school is the most problematic. I have a test tomorrow after all.

* * *

The next day something that I had almost forgotten about came to me the moment my senses caught the scent. My stalker hadn't stopped following me. I had briefly thought that maybe whoever it was, was working for the Church, since they appeared not long before the exorcists had, but now I had my doubts. They wouldn't be still following me after I had my conversation with both of them, I think.

So, during my commute to school, I waited at the front gate until all the girls were out of sight and turned back, going directly to where that person was. It took some doing, since although the person was apparently clueless that I could track him or her down, they could still hide like a pro. I didn't want to alert whoever it was that I was actually following them, while they thought that they were following me, so I stuck to the streets and to the known routes I took home normally. This cat and mouse game wasn't exactly how I had planned this out.

But, for all that the person knew, I had forgotten something at home and was going back to get it. It continued like this until I really got home, without being able to pin their position down. Once I was inside my home, there was no way for them to know what I was doing. Getting around the yard, and, shielded by the wall of my workshop, I jumped over the back wall of the house into the empty lot behind it and began to circle around the block until I was getting to the corner from my house again.

I stopped there, to make sure that whoever it was, hadn't realized I was there. A few moments later I heard a click and an eerily recognizable voice. "Eight hours, twelve minutes. Target still inside the house. Ten minutes since he entered. No sign of movement."

My jaw gaped as I leaned my back on the wall there for a moment to calm myself down. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but this person really was following me and reporting to... I have no idea to who.

I took another step to clear the corner and saw on the other side of the road, with the back on the other corner across the street directly in front of me, wearing a gray trenchcoat and an equally gray fedora hat, while not looking at me, I would recognize that person anywhere. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry at this point.

Another curveball, but this one with an added effect of being pitched with the same motion of a fastball.

I took the the fifteen steps that cleared me from one side of the street to the other and said. "Hello."

There was a literal squack coupled with a feet high jump while she turned to me wide eyed.

Yep, that's Rin alright. Tohsaka Rin was a part time stalker in this universe, apparently. Her eyes continued to look at me for a second, then turned back to the gate to my house then to me again. She blinked once, twice, then again turned back to the gate and to me again. Apparently she couldn't decide if I was real enough, so I decided to help her. "Hello? How may I help you..." I prompted her and that seemed to do it.

"Ah, sorry sir." She faked a baritone with me. "I was just waiting a friend of mine."

"For four days?" I asked her, forcing my voice to be incredulous. "You really would wait for your friend for four straight days?"

Her eyes widened at me again and her jaw dropped. She continued to look at me with that expression for a few seconds and I was getting more and more embarrassed for her in that situation, until I started to be concerned because the woman didn't seem to be breathing.

I snapped my fingers on her face two times then waved a hand in front of her. "Helloooo? Anybody home?"

Finally, there was a reaction, but not one I expected, and expected at the same time. It was the reaction I would expect from my Rin, but not this part time stalker. She straightened up, puffed out her chest and pointed a finger at my face. "Who are you, Emiya Shirou? Who do you think you are?" She repeated, while trying, and failing, to look at me in the eyes, even in heels, while still maintaining her pose.

I looked at her puzzled. "I am who I think I am. Who else would I be?"

She blinked at my forthright answer, then shook her head. "No. I want to know who you are! You appeared in our lives out of nowhere and now I can't get your mystery out of my head. Why did you appear now? Why?"

I decided to answer one question with a slew of questions of my own. "First, who are you? Second, whose lives? Third, why are you following me around?" The first answer I kind of knew, the other two... not so much.

"I'm the one asking questions here, young man." She said without answering any of my questions.

"Then show me a badge." I said to her immediately and she blinked.

"A... What?" She said after processing, or better to say, failing to process, my request.

"A badge. If you are a Police Officer and want to question me, then show me a badge, otherwise you only a nosy woman who is stalking a young man." I was forcing myself not to grin. Rin loved to berate me for my intelligence or lack thereof, in her own words. It was nice to get her, well a version of her anyway, unawares.

"A badge, huh?" She said, and she put a hand on the trench coat pocket. She pulled a wallet and opened and closed it quickly, thinking that maybe it was enough to fool me, but all she really shown me was a lot of Credit Cards and other miscellaneous things. "Now are you going to answer my questions or are we going to have to go to the precinct?" She said, trying to sound smug.

"Sure." I said and could almost feel her relief. "Officer...?"

"Tohsaka Rin." She answered trying to sound more confident than she was. She was really almost identical to my Rin in certain aspects. I could read this woman almost as well as I did my counterpart, which with my Rin is an accomplishment in and of itself.

"Tohsaka-san? Are you related to Tohsaka-sensei, by any chance?" I asked her and she paled for a moment, before cursing under breath.

"No. I don't know any Tohsaka-sensei." The fake baritone tone was back.

"Hummm... Then what do you mean about entering your lives? Whose lives?" I asked again.

She bit her lip and was about to say something else, but in the next moment another recognizable scent, yet not at the same time, appeared in the vicinity. Another power that I knew very well, but at the same time didn't. Whatever Rin said, I didn't even hear, because my head snapped in that direction, and there coming up from the street, wearing a blue yukata with floral pattern, while holding an red oil paper umbrella that hid her face, was another woman walking in our direction.

I concentrated on her for only another second and realized that, yes, from the gait to the stride and the way she moved, there couldn't be another person. Even more when I heard her voice. "Nee-sama, what did we tell you about this stalking business."

When the umbrella lifted enough for me to see her face it was unmistakably Sakura's, but there was a big difference. Two in fact. Her eyes weren't that shade of lilac I was used to, nor was her hair. Both were black, and she gave off the feel of a true Nadeshiko, like the one I felt when I first saw Marlianna-san, before she shattered that projection with a boulder then danced above it.

"S-S-S-Sakura?!" Came the stuttered and strangled voice of the woman in front of me.

Sakura finished walking in our direction until she was besides both of us. "I'm sorry, is my sister bothering you?" She asked me with that polite tone that my Sakura used when talking with strangers. Those kind but distant words hurt me in a way I wasn't prepared, so much that I almost wished to hear her calling me 'Sempai' again.

My breath caught in my throat and I coughed on my hand. "Ah, no. Not at all. I was just wondering why was she prowling around my house, that's all."

The woman didn't answer me, instead her eyes turned to that scolding and unyielding Sakura glare that I only saw when she was talking to me about my injuries or time in the kitchen. Seeing it been directed at someone else, I realized how creepy it was. I even think I saw some black tendril grow out of her back, her eyes flash red and hair turn white for a moment there. "Nee-sama. What did we say about stalking the young man?"

"It wasn't stalking. It was surveillance." The woman protested with all the dignity she could muster while inching down and away from 'The Glare'.

"Surveillance?" I decided to put in. "For what?"

"You!" Apparently that was the wrong time to say anything because Rin jumped from her place and put a finger on my chest, happy to get away from her sister's chastising eyes. "You, leading on that many girls, you can't be anything but a casanova, a gigolo, a libertine." Then she looked at my face and flushed when I looked at her bewildered. I thought that maybe she was following me because of some perceived connection with my counterpart here. Apparently I was wrong.

"Leading on so many girls?" I asked. "Have you even read the nameplate on that place?" I said with a disbelieving tone. "It's a dormitory, for crying out loud. I'm the Administrator." I said, pulling my wallet.

"Who would believe in such... a... thing..." She trailed off because I dangled in front of her my card that Rias had insisted that I carried. When she made me do it, I thought it was a joke, now at least it saved from me having to explain myself further.

"Look, the middle of the street isn't the best place to talk. Can I offer you two some tea while we sort this out?" I gestured to my house, and while Rin was working herself up again, Sakura simply put a hand on the trench coated girl's shoulder.

"Of course, Emiya-san. We would be delighted." She said with the same polite smile and Rin paled.

"No, no, no. Sakura you don't understand, that place is haunted." She said frightened by the prospect of entering my house. I tried to understand why she thought of that, then it clicked. She was the one that had invaded the property and triggered the alarms.

"Haunted?" I said, feigning ignorance. "Hmmm... maybe I should make another offering to Tama-sama." I continued, remembering that I had a Shrine with the statue of a cat, actually a Nekomata, in the yard. Karlamine, and now Marion, were responsible for keeping it clean.

"What do you mean?" The fedora wearing woman asked.

"Oh, nothing much." I said offhandedly. Inwardly I was cackling madly. Even if it wasn't my Rin, getting back at her for all the teasing was too good a chance to pass up. Maybe I was spending too much time with Akeno lately. "It's just that the house was so cheap because it was said that the land was haunted by the spirit of a Youkai, but since the Shrine for Tama-sama was built on the yard, the Youkai only attacks intruders."

"I've never heard of a Kami called Tama." Sakura said after a moment.

"Oh, that's because there's not really one." Of course, Tama was a popular name for cats. "We had to name the Youkai something, so we named it Tama. Cute right? My sister that chose."

"Your sister?" She asked me back, even as we began to walk towards the house.

"Yes." I smiled and opened the gate, then turned to them. "Come on in." These were the words that were keyed to me and the Bounded Field, that let me invite people inside it without the need to add them as exceptions to the runes themselves and without actually saying what I was doing.

Rin still appeared frightened as she passed the boundary and no alarm happened. Sakura though, once she passed, her head snapped instantly to me and her face took a calculating expression. She was mystically aware. Good to know. Now, how much was she aware of was a question.

Once inside the house proper, I signaled for them to sit and went to the kitchen to prepare tea for us. The silence that permeated the living room made me feel somewhat disturbed, but since they didn't move from there, I continued to prepare the tea without rush.

Once I returned I realized that both were analyzing the room they were in, but with completely different expressions. Rin had a somewhat still scared face on her and she snapped her head around at the slight movement or sound that was made. Sakura was looking as if measuring the place up and me along with it.

I put their cups in front of them and poured for them. Since the older sister was so frightened, I had to pour the tea in front of them as a sign of goodwill, otherwise she might think its poisoned or something. Then I poured one for myself and after sitting down on the couch across from them I took a sip of mine. Only then Sakura took her cup, gracefully, but Rin didn't made any mention to move.

"I'm sorry. I don't think we introduced ourselves. " I began. "My name is Emiya Shirou."

"Tohsaka Sakura. And this here is my sister, Tohsaka Rin." The yukata clad woman introduced.

"Tohsaka-san here... I'm sorry, but may I call you both Sakura and Rin? Otherwise would be confusing." I said after I realized that with two Tohsakas I couldn't exactly differentiate who I was talking about without doing that. Sakura nodded, but Rin shook her head. In my mind, Sakura overrides Rin, so too bad for the trenchcoated woman. "Anyway, Rin-san here was saying that she's having me under..." I paused, pointing a finger up, while talking, not really to point at anything, but I didn't have anything in my hand at the moment and I had to assume one of the lecture poses that Rin did whenever she was explaining something like she was talking to an eight year old, which, almost always, was me. "... surveillance... for some reason. Care to explain exactly why?"

"Well, she saw your photo that was brought home after the Archery Competition over at Kuoh Academy, and decided that you were a bane for all women that needed to be put down." Sakura said all that with a straight face. I'm not sure if she was joking or not, to be honest.

"I'm sorry? Just because of a photo?" I asked, bewildered. "How?"

"Oh, no. It was not just because of that. You see, my husband was the one who brought the photo and since he was impressed with your prowess with the bow and how you lived with several young girls he had-" I cut her off.

"I'm sorry. Husband?" I asked after I stopped listening at that part and finished to process exactly what that meant.

"Why, yes. He was the teacher of one of the schools that was competing. I believe that he came to talk to you after the competition, did he not?" She tilted her head aside a little.

"Tohsaka-sensei is your husband?" I had to ask again, just to make sure. My counterpart on this world married Sakura? "But he said he was adopted into the Tohsaka family as a baby?"

"Oh, did he say that?" She looked at me surprised. "Yes, well. It was a complicated situation, but the end result was that we are married, yes. Since we have no blood relation, there was no problems with the rest of the branch families."

"Branch families?" I parroted the last words only to say something in the lull while I was still trying to compute that the me in this world had not only been adopted into the Tohsaka Family, but had married his own sister.

"Yes. There was quite the uproar at the time, but since I wasn't the first in line to be next Head of the Family, but my sister, it was decided that it wasn't actually a problem." She continued to tell her tale, without a care in the world, while smiling at me.

I decided to forget about that tidbit and their political ramifications, and tried to circle the subject back to the problem at hand. "I'm sorry for the interruption. You were explaining that I'm somehow the bane of young women because your sister saw a photo of me during an Archery tournament."

"Oh, no. It wasn't just because of that." She waved her hand and subtly pinched her sister who was squirming. Who was the older sister again between these two? "It's just that my husband was explaining that you lived with several young women and that you implied that they were yours... quote-unquote family."

"I was not implying. They are my family here." I answered instantly, then regretted my outburst.

"See. I told you, Sakura. We should castrate him right now and then throw him in the river." Rin finally said something.

I frowned at her. "And why's that exactly?"

"Because you're going to make a lot of young women fall in love with you and then leave them when your one true love appears." She said with such a conviction that I could only look back at her dumbfounded. Then blinked once. Then twice. Three times to make sure.

Nope, she's still had the same conviction in her eyes.

"And I still don't understand why having a family equates with me having a lot of young women falling in love with me." I said still stunned.

"See?" The woman turned to Sakura again. "I told you he's just like-"

"Nee-sama." The voice of the yukata wearing woman was soft and polite, but it was the same tone that said 'stop right now or face the consequences' my Sakura used. It worked on this Rin too, because she stopped instantly.

"No... I mean, yes. I mean..." She began to stutter until she rallied herself enough. "Look at him Sakura. He's another one in the making. There's no way you can't see the similarities. Even his face is the same as it was back then!"

"Nee-sama, while I agree with part of what you are saying, I'm not seeing how two completely different and unrelated people can go down the same path." She said narrowing her eyes.

"It's a pattern, Sakura. Can't you see? That's the first law of detective work. There are no coincidences, once is a fact, twice is a pattern in the making." Rin said, waving her arms around to make her point.

"Nee-sama, that's not true, and you know it." Sakura said, shaking her head. "Coincidences do exist in this world, how else would you explain they even meeting each other? And you should stop reading those magazines and think them as study material. Think on your future. You're almost thirty now and hasn't settled down yet, be it with a companion or on a job. You should think about having an Heir soon too."

"I'm not gonna settle down just because Father wants, and you and Mother can stop pushing me because its not going to work." The woman said indignantly.

It was at that point that I realized something. They completely forgot that I'm right here, didn't they?

"What was last month again? Magical Girl Cosplay Café?" Sakura said, tapping a finger on her chin while her eyes where looking up.

Rin flushed as red as the shirt my Rin wore during the Grail War. "Th-That was then. This is now. This is my calling. I'm going to be the best detective this world has ever seen."

Sakura continued without even looking down. "And the month before was a... Veterinarian, wasn't it?"

"No." The other continued to rally herself up. "I'll solve the mysteries of this world. You hear me?"

"And before that was a Beautician, and before a Game Designer, and before an Idol." Sakura continued to list those facts as if remembering what items were on the shopping list of a grocery run.

With each new occupation, Rin became more and more flushed, until a point where she finally gave up. "Okay. Okay, you win. I'll shut up about the detective thing..." then she muttered. "for now." Before continuing on the same tone of voice of before. "But you can see it in his eyes, right. He was exactly like that back then too. Gathering that whole bunch of women inside his appartment in college."

I coughed in my hand to draw their attention. "As I said, I'm the Admini-" It was a vain attempt because they ignored me.

"But those were situations that couldn't be helped. You know as well as I do, Nee-sama." She said in a tone of someone who already had that same discussion several times. "You know that he couldn't just turn them away without helping them."

"And that's my point." Rin continued. "This thing here" She said gesturing to me. Now that was the Rin I was more used to, talking me down in my own house. "is doing the same thing, gathering all these girls inside his home."

Sakura sighed, and I got up form my seat and went to the kitchen. Their discussion was still ongoing though. I was hoping that wasn't the case, but they really forgot where they were. "Nee-sama, you didn't ask the circumstances. Did you even know that this is a Dormitory for Kuoh Academy?"

"Well, no, but..." Rin's voice came lower.

"And did you know that Kuoh was an All-Girls School until recently?"

"Well, no..."

"And wouldn't be strange that a Private School didn't offer boarding for the students that want to live close to the school?"

"Well, yes, but..."

I came back at this point and started pouring another cup of tea for myself and Sakura slid her cup to me, without looking. I poured it for her anyway and slid it back while she continued to berate her sister. "And since it was an All Girl School it isn't at all strange that their Dormitory is filled with girls, wouldn't you say?"

"Well, yes, but it was built in the last few weeks." Rin finally managed to complete a sentence. I wanted to applaud her.

"And did you ask why it was build in the last few weeks? It should have a good reason for it, right?"

Sakura continued with the verbal beating and Rin couldn't say anything else until she finally remembered that I was in the room as well and decided that trying to talk to me was better than having to face the wrath of her sister. "And you, aren't you going to say anything?"

"Well, Sakura-san made all my points for me, so why should I? She's doing well herself in the subject." I told her with a shrug.

"Why, you..." She was working herself up again but suddenly yelped.

Sakura had, with a motion so discreet that spoke of years of practice, just pinched her in the thigh again. "Nee-sama..." She said sighing.

I sighed myself. "Look, if I tell you the truth about this place, would you leave me and the girls alone?"

Rin frowned, but it was Sakura who said. "That depends, Emiya-san."

I sat back on the couch looking up. "Fair enough." Then looked down directly into her eyes. It was disconcerting to see black instead of lilac there. "Look, a few months ago I was hired by a family down on Hokuriku to track down their daughters that had disappeared. I managed to find them here on Kuoh, but they were being treated practically as slaves at the time, so me and some friends I made here managed to free them, but with them came other four girls that were also been treated the same way. These four girls didn't had anywhere to go, so I let them live here with me and my sister. I had the space." I shrugged. "And the family that had hired me told that they would pay the rent and their necessities while they lived with me. Anyway, the same place where these six girls were, had a connection with another place that was bigger and had more girls there, also been treated as slaves and worse, sex slaves." I said the last part gritting my teeth.

Both women paled at that declaration. It was obvious that whatever they were thinking it was wrong, from both sides.

"Anyway, turns out that this last place had some influential backers that I can't reveal the names of. They really thought that they were helping the girls at the time, and when we managed to find proof of the ongoings of the place, they decided to build this dorm for them, basically to shut them up. And since I was already helping four of them with similar situations, they asked me if I could take care of them as well." I sighed and leaned forward, putting both my elbows on my knees. "Trust me when I say this, this place isn't just a dormitory for them. It's all they have now, and with the scars they have in their minds and bodies, I doubt any of them would be willing to be a partner to anyone in the near or even in the far future for some of them. What they need is time to heal their wounds and get back to living their own lives. But you know how Japanese Society works." My voice turned cold at that. "It doesn't matter for them if the girls were being used as objects or not. They don't conform anymore, so they'll be shunned. The only way they have to get back to a semblance of normalcy in their lives is to try and live their lives as if that never happened."

Rin's hand for the first time during all this took her tea cup that was already cold by this point and drank it all in one gulp. Sakura too, grimaced at the story I told them. "I see. There's more here than meets the eye."

I scowled openly. "Yeah. And I would appreciate it if you both keep this from leaking out, even to your family." My face turned fierce as I looked at them and they both were taken aback by whatever they saw there. "I really don't want to have to hunt down anymore people who talks down on the people I have under my protection, but..." I crossed my arms while straightening my upper body. "If I have to, don't get me wrong, I will."

"More than meets the eye, indeed." Sakura said, while collecting herself.

"So, can I ask this of you two? To not talk about this anymore and not follow us around?" The question came out in tone of command without me meaning to. From their perspective they were talking to a teenager, but I didn't care.

Sakura was silent and Rin looked troubled. The silence stretched out, and when I was about to add more, to pressure them into promising that they would not talk was when the yukata woman talked. "I'll have to apologize to Nee-sama, though." She said, and that threw me for a loop.

"What?" Both the woman in question and me said at the same time.

"You do really resemble my husband in more ways than just outward appearance." She chuckled while lifting her arm to hide her mouth. "He too was reckless like you when young, saying that he would save everyone who he encountered."

My eyebrows shot up at that. So my counterpart here had the same ideals as me? But then why did he stop and settled down? Better yet, how did he do that? "Was?" I managed to say before my throat closed up.

"Yes, was. But after a series of events that I won't bore you with, we settled down." She glossed over the part that I wanted to hear, but I couldn't think of a way to ask her exactly how he managed to do what Archer hadn't been able to. And me to some degree. I still feel that I'm going down the same path.

"I see." It was all that I could say to her.

"But having heard of your situation, I'll have to ask of you, are you an Owner?" Rin's breath hitched when she heard that, and my mind reeled. Owner? Was that like Second Owner? Was there some Mage Association analogue in this dimension in the end? What that meant exactly?

"Owner?" I asked after a moment. "I own the house." I said, trying to get a feel of what I was getting into more than anything else.

"I see." The woman grimaced. "I'm sorry, please forget about it." Sakura said, regret on her voice.

"I know about a Second Owner, not about an Owner." I continued quickly, to see if they would recognize the term, but was met with bewilderment from them both.

"Second Owner? But that would mean..." Rin began but didn't finish and looked at her sister who too seemed confused while shaking her head.

I knitted my brows. We were obviously talking about different things, but there was something there. "I don't know the correct terms in this land, but I was always told to talk to the Second Owner in order to build a workshop in the territory or to ask for protection." Vague enough to not tell much, but still concise enough that anyone in the know would understand.

To my frustration they both looked even more confused. "I don't think we are talking about the same things, Emiya-san." Sakura said after a moment.

I sighed. "Yeah. I believe we aren't."

"But if you..." She was about to begin to say something when Rin's voice overrode her, with an authority that I hadn't heard from her the entire conversation so far.

"Don't. If he isn't already aware, then he's not." She said in a clear tone then turned back to me. "I'm sorry for taking your time, Emiya-san. We'll make sure to not interfere in your business from now on." She got up from her position on the couch and bowed to me, before ushering Sakura to do the same.

The yukata clad woman did just that, her eyes looked at me with sadness, then turned to the door.

I was so dumbfounded by the curtness of their actions that I almost didn't walk them to the front gate.

"Have a good day, Emiya-san." Rin said curtly again.

"I'm sorry for our intrusion, Emiya-san. Goodbye." Sakura said too, without the curtness.

"Ah-Ah. Have a good day, you two. If either of you are ever on the neighborhood again, my door is open. Just ring the doorbell." I said to them and they bowed again, before I closed the gate and Reinforced my hearing. It was a risk doing this on the street where a car horn could blow my tympanum, but I noticed that they were still talking in hushed tones.

"Why did you do that, Sakura?" Rin asked.

"I'm sorry, Nee-sama, but his story was a little too convoluted to be the whole truth. He was hiding something, and if he's the same as him, then you know what that means, right?" Sakura said.

"But even if he's an Owner, he's not our problem. His family will have to take care of it for him, not us."

"But, Nee-sama. We can't just let him..."

"Not our problem, Sakura. We already have two under our watch, why do you want to add a third Owner too? Is the tendencies of that lunatic husband of yours rubbing off on you?"

There was silence coming from them and I thought that they were finally out of my range for a moment, but I could still hear Sakura's geta click-clacking the asphalt.

"You're right. I'm sorry, Nee-sama."

"Urgh. Don't make that face." A pause. "Okay, okay. I'll let the dust settled down a little then talk with him properly, okay? I don't think he'll trust anything I say right now, anyway."

I could almost feel the smile on Sakura's face when she said. "Thank you, Nee-sama."

There was silence again, and the click-clacking was getting smaller and smaller until I heard Rin again. "I still think he's a womanizer, though."

The last thing I managed to pick up from them was an exasperated sigh that, given the context, it was probably from Sakura.

Still, what the hell being an Owner means in this dimension? And why do they think I'm one? Worse still, why do they think that an Owner needs to be under watch? Does that mean under protection? Or means under surveillance?

I'll have to talk with someone about this. In a hurry too. I glanced at the wall where the clock was and blanched. I had lost two periods already.

And the second one was a paper test. Great, now I'm automatically on the make-up test.

I sighed defeated while retrieving my schoolbag.

* * *

If I believed that the Root was a benevolent entity I would praise it for being able to escape the make-up exam since the teacher who would apply the test today had caught a bad case of the coughs and had called in sick. Problem was that I was still marked as tardy and Shitori had come during lunch break to give me a lecture about punctuality. I had to endure her talking about discipline and manners until she finally let me get a word in edgewise.

After explaining the circumstances in broad strokes I asked her about the term, but she looked just as bewildered as I did when I heard it. "Owner?"

"I see that you don't know as well, huh?" I sighed pushing a hand through my scalp.

"No. Never heard of it in the circumstances that you are describing." She looked down, trying to recall the term applied to the situation.

It was tricky to explain why I had missed the two first periods of class. I don't even know how she discovered that. I mean, who told her? "I don't know what to think about it, really. The first thing I though about was owner of a Sacred Gear, but then they would call it Wielder or something along those lines, right?"

"Yes. Normally that, or in case of the Church, they call it Blessing." She continued to frown. If there was something that Shitori liked was a puzzle, and I just handed her one. Even if she got frustrated with it she still would try and solve it.

"But I don't think that what's they were talking about. I don't know if they were together with the guy from the other day." Mentioning Heracles by name was something I didn't do for anyone. I refused to call that guy by that name out loud. Heracles in my mind had been Berserker and that's that.

She continued to scowl at the floor, before she sighed and looked up at me again. "Possible, but we have too little evidence to go on. Anyway, I guess I should warn you, since there are Exorcists on the city. Earlier today, they struck some deal with Hyoudou-kun, Kiba-kun, Toujou-san and Saji. They will cooperate during their investigation."

So the hothead and the bigot managed to get over their high horses and decided to ask for help of the locals. It would be much simpler if they had done that from the beginning, but whatever. As long as they don't bring trouble for me or the girls, I don't care. "I see."

"I think that was all I had to say. Is there something from your side?" The bespectacled girl asked, already half turning away from me.

"No, that's it, I think. If something comes up, I'll talk to you." I said in the end.

After biding goodbye to the girl, I was going to the Occult Research Clubroom, to talk with Rias about the same thing. Maybe even if Shitori didn't know anything, the other High-Class Devil on campus would be able to tell me something about it. I had to hope that at least one of them would know about something inside their own territory, but I couldn't be sure. Even if they are Devils, they are still teenagers.

As soon as I entered the forest a swoosh sound came from the far side contrary to the building where the Clubroom was supposed to be. Walking in that direction I could see that Kiba was there, practicing with a bokutou. His face set with grim determination, he didn't even realize that I was watching him, not even when I stepped right behind him.

I wanted to apologize to him for my behaviour yesterday, but at the moment he was battling with something inside his own head, so I didn't think it was a good time for that. I continued to observe his movements and had the urge to praise and scold him at the same time. His form was perfect for a Kendo practitioner, but aside from that there was nothing praiseworthy in the moves themselves. They were all done with barely restrained and leashed anger.

I stepped beside him and, tracing a bokutou myself, parried one of his strikes. Only then did he realized that I had been standing there for the past minute.

"Sempai?!" The blonde boy said, stepping back.

I got into an stance, without saying anything. He looked at my body then settled on the same stance, mirroring mine. Touching the tips of our swords we both stepped back. With an unspoken cue, we both moved, he came at me with an overhead strike and I parried it, redirecting to the left using the same momentum to use the guard where both my hands were holding my bokutou to attack him. He twisted aside and stepped back again, getting back in the initial stance. I let him do it without pressing my advantage.

He breathed to calm himself and I got in the stance in front of him one more time. Another silent cue and he came at me again with diagonal strike, aiming for my right shoulder. I stepped into the strike, using my practice sword to redirect the force of the blow away from my body while aiming my left elbow at his face. He moved his head aside and I hit only a glancing blow on his shoulder, while he twisted around his bokutou and came at me with an horizontal strike aimed at my midsection. Again I stopped the strike by placing my weapon between the strike and my body, before ducking down from a roundhouse kick he aimed from the other side. Since his stance was completely broken from his attack with the sword, the kick came slower and wouldn't have caught anyone off guard.

I grinned inwardly at that. In the past, he wouldn't made any attack that wasn't with his swords. Now he had learned to use his whole body to attack when necessary. Sometimes those were the moves that would catch others with their guard down. A swordsman, that's what he was before starting training with me. Now he was a combatant that used swords as primary weapons. It wasn't honorable, but I had drilled into him that honor on the battlefield didn't exist anymore. It died during the Age of Heroes. Saber would disagree with me, but she was strong. She could afford to be honorable. I didn't, and that was the only way someone as weak as me could even think of fighting beings several times stronger than myself.

I had drilled that into them all, Rias' and Shitori's Peerages alike. In the battlefield you used every advantage you could get. If an enemy had an weakness, exploit it for all it was worth, if they didn't have one, try and create one then, like Kiba just did. Making me defend on one side with the weapon, leaving my other side open.

I jumped back to get some distance between ourselves and he came at me again, with an overhead attack. I didn't block it this time, twisting my body so the perceived blade would pass through where I was, while I used the momentum from the movement to turn and strike at him, aiming at his head. He let go one hand from his sword, and his right hand slapped my wrist, redirecting my attack over his head, while his left hand pulled his bokutou back. Before he could finish the movement, I hit him with a knee to the stomach. Or would, if he hadn't jumped back with the blow, but it was enough for getting him in the air. Using that opening, I swiped at his legs before he was able to properly get his feet under him again and he fell backwards.

I stepped back after that. "So... Why are you so angry?" I asked the boy while he was righting himself again.

He gave up on getting up from the ground, electing to continue sitting down. He was troubled and one could see it easily in his face if you got to know him. "You know about my history, Sempai?"

"No." I answered him sitting in front of him. "It never came up between us, I guess."

He grimaced, looking at the sky, then down again. "I am an orphan that was taken in by the Church to one their orphanages. One day, a man came to the orphanage I was at and selected me and my friends to be part of a project. In the name of the Lord." He grimaced. I don't know if because of the retribution or of the memory.

Probably both.

"A project?" I prompted him, raising an eyebrow.

"It was called 'The Holy Sword Project', but I only learned this later. Supposedly it was so that they could prove that a Holy Sword Wielder wasn't a right received at birth but one that could be reproduced." He continued.

"Holy Sword Wielder?" I asked. Quarta had said the same thing yesterday.

"All Holy Swords in possession of the Church choose their wielders. If someone not chosen by the sword holds one of them or tries to use them, the swords will hurt them." He explained. "Anyway, a man named Valper Galilei was in charge of the project and he got me and my friends away from our orphanage into his facilities. In the beginning it wasn't so bad, we were treated fairly and given more time to train and play with each other, so it wasn't actually bad at all." He said with a smile.

Then his smile cracked and turned into a sneer, as he shook his head at the memories.

"Then the experiments started. At first was things like leaving us alone in the middle of a snowstorm for hours naked, to see how long we could survive, or leaving us inside big bathtubs where the water kept getting hotter and hotter until bristles started appearing in our skin. And those were just the indirect methods. The experiments started to get more vicious after that." He continued and I'm sure he hadn't really talked about this in such detail with anyone else, besides maybe Rias or his Swordsmaster.

"More vicious?" I continued to prompt him.

"They would strap us to operating tables and cut open our bodies while they made us talk with them about what we were feeling." I had to grimace. Vivisection wasn't pretty under the best circumstances, but what he was telling me was even more gruesome. "There was no anesthesia, and we felt our bodies been ripped open, spreaders and other metal tools being shoved inside the incisions they made, while they simply talked about us." His eyes took that shellshocked tint that I was more used to see in war veterans than in a kid like him. "We could hear the screams of the others from our rooms on the other side of the facility when it wasn't our turn."

He looked back down at the his hands, then curled them into fists.

"I'm ashamed that during those times I even thought things like 'I'm glad it isn't me' or 'Thank god the screaming stopped. Now I can sleep in peace.' We became desensitized like that." He shook his head, and his arms started to tremble. I caught a new scent of power close, but recognized it and let her hear. "When was my turn, all I remember aside from the pain was feeling rage. There was I, screaming my lungs out from the pain and they kept talking over me, as if whatever I was doing didn't matter."

He sagged again, and continued to talk. I only waited patiently.

"At some point, when our screams were too much for even them, they would simply put a gag on our mouths. They kept looking at us, asking questions about how that felt when they moved this or that tool inside of us, or if this sensation was different from the other, but in that situation we were in how could we answer. Even if we wanted to... Even if I wanted to answer them, just in hopes that the pain would diminish, that they would make the pain go away, I couldn't feel anything, just the pain, just the feeling of having my innards shoved aside time and again."

He laughed sardonically without looking at me. It was a broken thing that made me want to tell him to stop, but didn't. I couldn't actually.

"It was then that I realized that we weren't human beings for them. We were things that could answer questions. That was the only advantage we had over lab rats in their eyes. It was then that I started to wish that the next experiment would kill me, but they always patched us up. They had a Sacred Gear user with them too. That man healed us back after every experiment, and after the first few times me and my friends thought that he was the only good person there."

He scowled again.

"But he wasn't. Not even close. I only discovered this later too. We had three girls with us. And when the time came for them to be experimented on, he was always the last one left in the room with us when he healed us. And it wasn't different with them." He paused, tears were coming to his eyes. "He raped them, before _and_ after healing them. He liked to hear their screams, look at their insides while he..." He didn't finish the sentence, but it was obvious what he was saying.

The more he talks, the more I get the feeling that he's describing the events inside a workshop of particularly vicious and amoral Magus.

"But then those experiments ended as well, and we thought that our suffering was finally over." Another shake of his head. "But no, the next part was making us actually holding a Holy Sword in our hands." He looked at his hands at this. "It burned our skin at the touch. Just getting near it was enough for us to feel at peace, but the moment we touched the sword it was like our skins were being torn off." He took steading breath. "And every time we couldn't do it, they came up with other experiments."

I though that he would gloss over from there, but he didn't. He couldn't. He was trapped inside the memories.

"The first one was to leave us alone with the sword for days, without food, without water with only an overhead light in the center of the room. We couldn't even use the sword to kill ourselves because it was inside a box with only the handle out. Another one was to keep us strapped into a bed while the sword was left extended over our bodies, millimeters above them. If we as much as breathed too deep, we would touch it and feel the burns again. Then there was the one were they put us into a tank with just enough water for us to not touch the bottom with our feet, but not enough to reach the border of the tank and the only way for us to get our heads out of the water was to either hold the sword the was dangling in the center of the tank or keep trying to maintain our bodies afloat."

During all of the story he was telling me, I could feel two things. One, he was far away. Two, several other people had come near us.

"In the end, the project was considered a failure. But the Archbishop who was in charge of it didn't want to deal with the ones of us that survived that experience, and released a poisonous gas inside the facility, trying to kill everyone there, from researchers to subjects. I only escaped because my friends who were still alive helped me get out of there." He then looked at me in the eye. "The reason I'm feeling so much rage right now, Sempai, is because the sword that was used during those experiments was an Excalibur. The moment I saw them, I... I lost it."

I absorbed the whole tale, and nodded at him. "I see." It was at that moment that the all the expectators decided to make themselves known. Rias was the first to reach us, and she hugged him behind his back, burying her face on his shoulder. Akeno sat beside him, and put her arms over both him and Rias. Koneko sat with her back to him, using his other side to support her head, while Asia was crying openly and embraced the top of his head.

Ise put a hand on his shoulder, while he sniffled, snot falling from his nostrils. He was the only one who said anything, but all he said was. "Damn, handsome." It wasn't a curse, more like his way of telling that he felt for him too.

I could see the shock on his face when he realized that everyone of his friends had been listening in on him.

"Our past" I began while they were still on that pile. "can make us strong or make us weak. Our lives are defined by what happened to us in the past, after all. That rage you feel... I can't say that it is righteous or not, honestly. Rage is just that for me. A feeling that can't be called right or wrong, but it clouds our judgment making us weaker than we really are. A rage fueled strike can be stronger than anything, but in the end, even if the target of our anger is taken out, the rage for its actions will never disappear."

I took a deep breath watching the way he was still stunned by the way all his friends, his family, was draped all over himself.

"I told you about the Grail War, right?" I continued without letting him time to acknowledge. "There was a Servant called Caster. Me and my partners at the time managed to kill her, but the rage I felt then about her actions is still as strong today as they were then." I looked at the overcast sky. "It gave a momentary satisfaction to know that she was dead. To know that contemptible bitch had been in the ground while her life ebbed away from her. But after the war, every time I remember her actions, the rage is still there, without an outlet." I looked at him again. "Don't let your rage fuel your life. I don't think that was the reason your friends helped you then for. They would want you to live your life, for yourself and for them." I got up and walked away from the pile. "Vengeance is a powerful motivator, Kiba, but don't let it be your only reason for living."

I walked away after that. Good thing I hadn't eaten lunch today. The bile that came up my throat and I gulped down as I walked away from them was all the warning I needed that I would have thrown up my recently eaten lunch if I had it.

Lunatic and amoral people. It seems all worlds are the same. There will always be unsavory people everywhere.

I said that I didn't believe the Root was a benevolent entity before, right? Well, what more proof would I need than just hear his story.

* * *

I was running full tilt from my house to the school. It was already night right now, and I had left from school earlier today in order to cast my beacon earlier too. So far, all my tries to alter the spell had met only with partial success, since I don't think that Rin would take so much time to recognize that I was trying to call for help.

I was probably using it on the wrong dimension or maybe my initial fear that it was being directed to the Fae instead of Fuyuki City had come true. Either way, I don't think they would take so long to home in on me. If I could I would let the spell active for longer periods, but that wasn't an option I could use. I had already spent an hour each day, over the half hour I started with.

Point being, I left everyone at school today and had come back home to try and tinker with the formulas of the spell, and see if I could change something in them and double check their parameters. I was honestly rethinking in trying again to incorporate an Aria on it, or maybe reverse the Aria used on the Servant Summon Ritual, because I was starting to run out of ideas.

One of the ideas I had was to try and synchronize this world's Rin existence with my Rin, but I had no idea how to do that as well. Aside from the fact that I would need to convince this Rin to help me, something I had no idea how to go about, I would need to tinker with the beacon spell for it to connect them. It was basically what the Second Magic was all about. Zelretch used all the time, connecting his mind to different realities' counterparts of himself and use their knowledge on the one where he was.

It would be like trying to equate my haphazard research with a feat of the four hundred year old vampire in just a few months. I had no hope of doing that. I wasn't even aware of the intricacies of that Magic like Rin was, and even she wasn't too deep in it yet. And she's a genius.

Still, I needed to find a way sooner rather than later. Because the more time I spent on this universe, I was creating more and more ties for myself, like the reason I'm running like a madman right now. It started with a little discomfort that I promptly ignored but it didn't went away. It began to grow and grow, and now it was a raw panic that I was feeling. It took a few minutes to discern what that was about.

The girls. The King Piece, connected to the Pieces on the girls, were transmitting their emotions to me. And considering that I normally only felt impressions from them when I concentrated, feeling that much fear through the link could only mean one or both of two things. The girls were all in a panic at the same time and it was strong enough for them to fear for their lives.

I was nearing the school when I felt the power of a Boundary Field I just passed through. It was several hundred meters away from campus, not even near the place they were normally set up, just at the edge of the front gate, and it was a disinterest field, not an alarm one. Whoever set this up was trying to keep people away from school. I too would be turned back if it wasn't for the fact that I was following the link to the girls blindly at this point.

When I reached the front gate, I crossed another Boundary Field, and this was one created to shield anything that happened inside it from the outside world. But before I could muse on who or what had created that field, I saw something made my blood boil.

My mind immediately locked itself down and I began to analyze the scene. On the ground, at my left, Rias was charging her Power of Destruction while Ise's Sacred Gear kept blinking repeatedly, no doubt charging his boosts. Behind Rias, Shitori stood, holding her left arm with her right, a gash on her hairline letting blood run freely down the right side of her face. Further down on the left, I saw the rest of Shitori's Peerage. Shinra and Saji were in front of the others, guarding them as they were all on the ground in varying states of injury, none immediately fatal, at least. Closer to me and to the gate still on the left, Akeno, Asia and Koneko were helping Kiba and the Exorcists up from the ground. Asia had her skirt and part of her blouse torn on the side and Akeno clothes too were in tatters but there was no visible wound in either of them. Kiba was holding a sword I have never seen he produce before and the sword itself was an impossibility because it was holding both demonic and holy energies, or at least the demonic and holy of this world. Shidou seemed to have lost one of the the hair clips on her head because half her hair was down and the other was still on a tail of her normal twintailed look. Her robe was nowhere to be seen and she was with a sword that was probably lent to her by Kiba, since it had the same energies. Quarta was holding her Durandal with the tip on the floor as a crutch while breathing hard. Her face had received quite the beating.

All around the courtyard bodies and more bodies were strewn about, of things I don't think were human or even humanoid in the first place. Directly in front of me, on the other side of the courtyard, in front of the gateway that lead inside the school building, the girls from the dorm, plus the four from the house were standing. Karlamine, Xuelan, Sophie, Julie and Margareth in front of the others, as if shielding them from whatever was happening. The four of them were glowing in that faint white light that indicated Sophie's Heaven's Aura was active and shielding them.

On the right, on the far side, sitting on what appeared to be a throne of all things, made out of stone hovering a few feet in the air, was one of the most vile creatures I had ever seen in this world. Not even the Maous I've met held so much malice in them. His red eyes shone with contempt and disdain for all who were still in front of him. His face was a weird mixture of both angelic and demonic beauty, contorted in a sneer that I could feel on my skin from my position. That was a Fallen Angel. A real existence older than humanity itself, that fell from heaven and now was demonstrating his power to all who were in the vicinity. In fact, that was what I had always imagined what a Demon should look like.

My head snapped back to Ise when I heard him crying out. "Transfeeeer!"

Rias presence took over the whole courtyard with her power, and began to battle with the sheer presence of the Fallen sitting down with a smirk on his face. She gathered a massive ball of energy, her Power of Destruction, above her head. It was bigger than anything I have ever seen her produce. Had Ise boosted her to more than twelve times this time? As fas as I knew, that was his maximum.

"Eat this!" The redhead cried out, and for the first time I saw something different than a sneer on the face of the Fallen on his stone throne. He narrowed his eyes and put both hands in front of him, as if to shield himself from the sheer power of the massive ball of pure destructive energy that was shot in his direction. I don't know what the sound of an unmovable object being hit by an unstoppable force would be, but I'm quite sure it was something like this.

The Fallen had to get up and brace himself against the onslaught of energy shot at him, his robe tattered moments after it reached him then his throne disintegrated behind him, along with a good portion of the building further behind him. Superficially I noticed that the building being destroyed was where the rooftop I used to go to eat my lunch was located. The forest behind the building too started to completely disappear, but at the end of the onslaught, even if his clothes were in tatters and he was openly bleeding from his arms, the Fallen stood tall.

I could feel the look of disbelief on everyone present. After the attack had faded, the Fallen was still alive. No, not alive. He was recuperating rapidly from his injuries, as if the world itself denied him the possibility of being injured and simply reversed the damage done to him, including his robes.

"Impressive, Gremory." I heard the Fallen's voice for the first time. "I may have underestimated yours and your servants abilities some. But no matter, once you and the Sitri Heiress are dead, the Devils will have no choice but to restart the Great War, and it will be glorious!"

What?! This maniac wants to restart a war that almost wiped out three species along with humanity?

"God will never let that happen. You'll be punished before him. Your actions-" Shidou's speech was cut short as the Fallen started to laugh, hard an loud.

"God is dead, little lamb. God died during the Great War, along with the four original Maous." He continued to laugh. "It's hilarious that you still believe in the Church even after they have lied for so much time."

"What?!" It was a collective question that ran through all people present.

"God is dead." He repeated. "You ignorant fools don't even know that. I would pity you if it wasn't so funny." He continued to laugh maniacly.

"God can't be dead." Shidou said after a moment. "If he was-"

"What you believe is of no matter to me, little lamb." He cackled again. "You are all going to die now, along with the Heirs, and be the sacrifices that will ignite again the Great War. This is just the opening act." He floated up slowly at first, then more and more fast until he was floating a hundred feet from the ground. The Fallen lifted his hand and something I hadn't witnessed since my fight with Gilgamesh happened. Hundreds of spears of light appeared above him, all pointed down.

It was enough for me. I already could see how this would play out if I did nothing, but apparently I was the only one, because everyone else on the courtyard was paralyzed looking at the sky. I moved.

"Now, let the first salvo of the Second Great War be fired." He waved his arm and all the spears began to shoot down to the ground. Thankfully they were all being directed to the position both Rias and Shitori were. It would simplify my next step.

Just as the first spears were about to reach ten feet of the redhead whom Ise had knocked down and fallen over to protect her with his body I stopped in front of them, put both hands in the way of the spears and shouted.

"Rho Aias!" The seven petaled crimson flower appeared in front of me shielding everyone who was behind me as well. The Shield used by Aias the Great, the only shield capable of stopping Durindina with its seven layers of ohxide. It was conceptualized and recreated, and now was known as The Seven Rings That Cover The Fiery Heavens. It manifests itself as a crimson flower, told to be in the same pattern Aias blood formed as he died. This shield is the ultimate protection against any projectile weapons. Nothing can penetrate its seven layers, not even Gae Bolg managed to do it during the Grail War.

The onslaught kept coming and coming, until it finally died down and I fell on a knee as I released the projection. There's a reason I don't use Rho Aias much. It takes too much to project it, three times more than any blade. "Who are you?" I heard the voice of the Fallen calling from the sky, but I ignored, even as I looked at him. No. Not him. It was a creature, a monster. Not a him. An It.

I started calling out loud. "Solveiga, Chevonne, Candida, Carlota, Khalilah, Naiara, Carmela, Tomoko, Marion. Evacuate the non-combatants and wounded. Mihae, Alberta, Astrid. Heal and treat the wounded if possible." I continued without taking my eyes of the Fallen. "Sophie, Xuelan, Margareth, Julie, Karlamine, Giselle and Sylvi. Protect them."

I wasn't paying attention and my words came out as orders. "Yes, Shirou-sama!" It was only when they chorused the response that I realized that they all obeyed immediately, pulling their wounded and going to the others that were still on the field, scurrying to execute my command. Though the four that weren't under the influence of my King Piece took a moment to absorb what I had just ordered before following through with it.

"A human Magician?" The Fallen asked, while rubbing his chin, a smidge on interest appearing in his eyes. "And one without a Sacred Gear." It then barked a laughter again. "Interesting. Good, good. Maybe this time the humans will participate in the Great War as more than just fodder." It was lifting its hand again when I continued.

"Ise!" I called out to the boy on my back. "Get the others out of here. I'm about to do something stupid."

"Sempai?" I heard the confusion on his voice, even while I summoned my bow.

Archer's bow.

"Do it!" I ordered him as a sword appeared on my offhand. Caladbolg II. The Fake Spiral Sword. The original Caladbolg was called the The Rainbow Sword, the magic sword wielded by Fergus mac Róich. It was also known as the Spiral Rainbow Sword or simply Spiral Sword. When used as a sword it could destroy landscapes with a single swing. Some consider it the prototype for the Excalibur. When called from my Reality Marble as Caladbolg II, it is more aerodynamic.

It also can hold an absurd amount of mana. Only problem is that it takes time to charge. Time that I don't actually have. I grimaced even as I altered it and started channel mana on it, as fast as I could, while taking aim.

"Oh, an archer? It has been ages that I had seen someone who actually uses a bow and arrow during a bat-" It stopped its own speech as its eyes narrowed at me, no doubt feeling the power gathering itself on the sword. "That isn't possible. No human has ever been able to summon that much-" It cut its voice again and began to call even more spears than before. I could feel that the others were getting away from me, at least. That was a small consolation. The spears were all aimed at me and I could feel the sneer on the Fallen's face.

The Fake Spiral Sword was still charging. If I fired now it wouldn't be enough. Calling forth Unlimited Blade Works would take too much time too. The spears started to rain down on me, and I set my face, determined to see this through. I continued to charge Caladbolg even as the spears were closing in. Time itself seemed to be in slow motion for my senses. There was no way that I would be able to call Rho Aias in time, even if I dismissed the projectile I was charging. My hope was that I could fire the shot just as the spears hit me. I would have to be enough, but then...

Then it was over.

Or at least that was what I thought for a fraction of a second. To my surprise, I heard a cry of pain and at the same a translucent layer of protection appeared in front of me. Startled by that, I tracked the one holding the shield and my eyes widened. In front of me, Julie had appeared out of nowhere and used her Sacred Gear, the Shield Of Apostles, to protect me, but in doing so, she didn't protect herself. My eyes widened even more when her pained face smiled at me, as her eyes closed and the red covering the side of her face wasn't from her hair. A moment later I saw the blood pooling below her body and my attention went back to the Fallen on the sky.

 _Another one._

More spears began to appear in the sky, and the face of the Fallen was contorting itself in glee.

 _Another one._

I heard a voice from one the people that I still needed to protect from behind me shouting. "TRANSFEEEEER!"

 _Another one._

The rush of power was almost overwhelming. If it wasn't for the fact that I was completely locked into battle mode, I would feel elated by that.

 _Another one. Another one._

Her face laughing while she joked with Carlota, scolding Tomoko, talking with Sophie, playing with Asia, trying to pray on the way to school.

 _Another one. Another one. Another one._

My eyes locked on the Fallen's even as his spears continued to form. Caladbolg had already charged to capacity, but I wanted more. I wanted to pour everything I had into that shot. Everything.

 _Another one. Another one. Another one. Another one._

Eating ice cream. Washing the dishes. Coming with me to grocery shopping. Crying while telling me her tale.

 _Another-_

Something broke inside my mind and I saw memories that weren't mine. A rush of recollections of events that I never experienced. Things that shouldn't be possible to have happened simultaneously crushing my mind. Power that I have never possessed enveloped my body. Caladbolg became brittle with the power pouring inside it over the capacity it could hold. With that it became fragile.

It became Broken.

"My core is twisted in madness." I heard my own voice call dispassionately as the mana around me exploded outwards with an almost a gaseous look. Pure raw Mana normally shouldn't be possible to be seen by the naked eye, but there such a concentration of it around the Fake Spiral Sword that the night sky lit up with a second sun on the courtyard of Kuoh Academy.

The spears sent in my direction simply flicked out of existence when they reached the cloud, breaking down into Prana again and fueling even more the already densely powered Noble Phantasm.

"Caladbolg." I dismissed the bow almost before I fired the shot. Caladbolg reached the Fallen at godspeed, a step down from instantly. And the spears that were on the sky disappeared a fraction of second later. Another fraction of second and the explosion of pure raw energy reached us. Another fraction of second, I was flying backwards while holding on Julie's body to me. Another fraction and I felt the backblast reach the position I was going to fall on.

It took me surprisingly little time to regain my wit and look at the destruction that happened. Rias' Power of Destruction had totalled a good portion of the east side building. Caladbolg had vaporized whatever was left of it. A deep crater on the center of the pillar of energy that had formed. The forest behind where the east building once was became a wasteland. The courtyard unrecognizable from the one I saw only this afternoon.

Caladbolg was classified as Anti-Army for a reason.

But through all of that, my attention was really only on the body of the girl that I was holding to my chest. Another one that I couldn't save. Another one that I should have protected. Another one that I took away from a place where she could still be living. Another one that I brought to the madness that is my life. Another one that I let get close enough to make me feel like this. Another one that I shouldn't ever let suffer again. Another one that I wasn't fast enough to guard.

Another one.

The cry that came through my throat was something guttural, primal, no words forming, nothing but pure indescribable sadness. The powerlessness that I felt in the face of the mortality of those I wanted to protect punching me in the face yet again. This wasn't the first time I saw someone die in front of me because I couldn't protect them. Hell, she wasn't even the hundredth. Too many people die during wars, during conflicts, at the whims of maddened Magi Lords, Sealing Designees, Drug Lords, Extremists, Revolutionaries, Dead Apostles. But its always the powerless that pay the price. Always the innocent. Always the ones who shouldn't have been there in the first place. The ones who have their lives torn away at the capriciousness of others.

And that was when I remembered the red clad Servant. Is that what Archer felt when he made his deal with Alaya? Was that why he abandoned his ideals in the end? Was because of this feeling?

If it was, now I think I can finally understand why he did it. It hurts too much. To feel so powerless, so minuscule in the face of an event such as this. If I could, I would gladly sell my Soul to Humanity's Will at this moment, just so that I could save her. Her face was still set on the smile since the moment her eyes closed with her last breath. Her red hair still pooling around me and the crimson of her life ebbing away and soaking my clothes. Her soul crying out desperately to keep on living. I could still feel it.

That gave me pause.

I could still feel it. Her Rook. I could still feel it. There was still a connection. She wasn't completely gone.

"ASIA!" I cried out before my brain had completely computed the reason why I was doing it. "HELP!"

If someone was still in shock over the events, I think that cry broke them out of their stupor. The blonde ex-Nun jumped in place, then looked at me and started running. "Onii-chan..."

"Heal her, please!" I pleaded to the girl, while cradling the former Holy Maiden in my lap. Asia promptly started to cast her spell. While she did that, Shitori, Rias, Kiba, Ise, Koneko and Akeno came too. The rest of the girls of the dorm also came a step behind them, forming a circle around us.

The grove that I had fallen in didn't exist before. Somewhere along the line of this battle, something hit here, with enough force to create this gash in the ground, big enough for several people to stay on their feet and not see over the lip in any direction except the courtyard.

While noting that, I realized that I never seen Asia's Twilight Healing take so much time. I looked at the blonde and her face was contorted in concentration, until out of nowhere, she fell down on me. "Asia?" I asked, perplexed. "Asia!" I cried louder. "ASIA!" Louder still, while shaking her in a panic.

Not you too. Please. Not you too.

"She's exhausted, Shirou." My head whipped to Rias when she said that. "She was the only one keeping us in the fight." The redhead knelt beside me and Julie and pulled Asia from us.

I was about to retort, snap at the blue eyed Heiress, but forced my instincts down. I had to think about the battle that happened before I arrived here. There were so many bodies and several people injured. Strategically, Asia was the best healer out of all the Devils present. She would have been running around the whole battlefield healing people. There was no way that she could use Twilight Healing indefinitely. There had to be an upper limit.

"Let me, Shirou-sama!" Alberta came closer, her two hands already wearing the translucent white gloves that signaled her Sacred Gear was active.

Then I remembered what her Sacred Gear, Painful Contribution, did. "NO!" I yelled. No way I would let her use that. Julie's body was hit everywhere, and she was almost dead. Even with Asia's healing, she was still critical. There's no way I'll let her feel that pain, even if it's diminished.

But then, what about Julie? What do I do with her? Maybe Avalon? No. Avalon is a Holy Artifact. Even if its Holy properties are the ones I'm used to and not the ones from here, I don't want to risk that. I can't.

"Shirou, you'll have to heal her yourself." Again Rias said and I looked at her blankly.

"I'm not letting Alberta do it. Her Sacred Gear is too risky. I'm trying to think of a way, but the only healing artifacts I can pull out now are holy in nature." I snapped at her. "The ones that aren't take too much Od, and I'm spent. I can't Trace them."

She looked at me confused before shaking it off. "No. Shirou, you're her King. You can heal her."

My head whipped to her and I stared directly into her eyes. "How?" I asked dumbly but a tiny flicker of hope started to form again in my chest. If I had to become a Devil or Demon to save her at this point, I would gladly do it. It didn't matter anymore.

I didn't care.

If I was a lesser man, or was in a different mindset, I would have either blushed, stuttered or paled, or some combination of the three, at the her explanation of how I should do it. In the end, the only thing I said was. "Can you teleport her to the dorm. I'll get there in a few minutes."

She blinked at me, trying to process my reaction, I don't know if it was because of my bluntness or because of the eagerness that my tone had in it. The whole concept to heal a wounded Devil was simple in the end. Prana exchange was something I was very familiar with. Akeno was the one who answered when no one else did. "I'll do it." Everyone looked at her, but she didn't even bat an eyelid at the gathered attention.

I gave her a nod. "Good." I put the girl in my arms on the ground gently, got up and started dashing down to the gate. "I'll be there in three minutes." I said out loud.

Whatever they said after that I couldn't hear. I Reinforced my body to the maximum and started running downhill faster than should be possible for me, even with reinforcement. A part of my mind scolded me. I should have asked to teleport together with them. Whatever, now I was already more than halfway down the slope and almost to the dorm.

When I finally got there, I entered through the dorm lobby instead of going around through the house. Jumping up the stairs, three steps at a time I crashed against the wall, leaving a dent on it, before running down the hall to her room. Akeno was just putting her on her bed, and I started taking off my clothes while she took Julie's off. "So, how exactly do I do it?" I asked, while I peripherally analyzed the room.

Or what was there to look at. None of the girls had much in the way of material things, and most of what they had was already supplied by the dorm. Pajamas, uniforms, underwear. Beds, mattresses, sheets and pillows. Curtains, wardrobes, nightstands, working desks and chairs. The only real difference from her room to the others, aside from the positioning, was the plush toy bird that I gave her a while back. According to the owner of the store it was suppose to be an Spanish Eagle.

Akeno looked at me clinically and began to explain. "Skin contact. The most skin contact you can have with her, the better."

I looked at the girl's bed, where she was lying on her back. I moved to the side of it, pulling her slightly aside, even as blood continued to dampen the sheets. I scooted in beside her then turned her on her side with Akeno's help, then pulled her back to my chest, adjusting my legs and arms so they would touch her skin in the more widespread way possible. "Like this?" I asked the Shrine Maiden who nodded.

"Now, concentrate on her Evil Piece and try to pour as much mana on it as possible." She continued, her face was worried, but her tone didn't waver in the slightest.

I closed my eyes, trying to find the link again. It was faint but still there. I began to try and send my own Od at it but it wasn't working. I felt my face contorting into a frown, but didn't pay attention to it, concentrating harder, trying to will the King Piece to gather more mana, since that's how it worked normally without any input from me. The sensation was almost like trying to breathe through jelly, but little by little it started to gather the mana around me and condense it, then finally started to pour it on the Piece, using everything that had gathered for it.

I have no idea how much time I spent there. I think I fell asleep at some point, or entered a trance-like state, because when I came to again, I felt another body pressed behind my back. Looking at the window the sun was already in the sky, it was already daytime. Middle of day, at that.

By now, the adrenaline had already worn off, and I was starting to feel the effects of having two very attractive females around me while I was naked embracing one of them who was naked as well. At least the girl on my back was either covered by a blanket or still clothed. That gave a little respite for the situation I was in. I mean, I'm no prude, and I only ever had real intimacy on all levels with Rin, but that didn't mean that I didn't get excited when I was with Sakura too. It wouldn't work otherwise, obviously. At least this method of Prana exchange I was doing with the girl with me draped down over her body was cleaner than a tantric ritual. Tamer too, despite the situation we were in.

I had no idea how much time I should continue to do this, but an hour or so after I came to, her Piece stopped receiving Mana. I almost panicked thinking that it had failed and she had died, but the slow rhythmic beating of her heart told that wasn't the case. Even then, I continued there in vigil. A very creepy vigil if anyone looked from the outside and didn't know the circumstances, but a vigil nonetheless.

It took three more hours for the other person on the bed to awake herself. Akeno sat up and looked over me to the girl, then smiled. "You can let go of her now, Shirou." She said in a motherly tone, with a relieved smile on her lips.

"Are you sure?" My own voice was more dubious than I would have liked, but I didn't care about it. After it left my mouth I winced internally at how that could have be misconstrued. I was sure the brunette would start teasing me in her next sentence.

I was wrong. "Yes." The Shrine Maiden's warm smile was like the sun appearing behind rainclouds. "She's only sleeping now."

As if to prove her point, the redhead protested in her sleep when I moved my arm from her and rolled on my back. Looking over her body, I couldn't see any of the wounds that had tore at her body during the confrontation, and even the blood soaked mattress and sheets had dried themselves up. All the left side of my body had dried blood on it and my left arm was numb and prickling from suddenly having the blood flow normally again.

I sat with my back to the Rook, finally trying to process the whole thing that happened. "Why did she do that?"

"You're her King. We always feel compelled to save our King." The brunette answered me and I lowered my head. I was still naked, but with my mind recalling the images of the fight, I didn't care about my state of undress, nor did the Shrine Maiden apparently. Though if she had spent all this time with me, I suppose she was already inured to the image of my scarred body.

"But I ordered them to save the others." I said, still trying to wrap my mind around that particular part. They never disobeyed orders before. The King Piece ensured loyalty above and beyond what was considered normal or even safe. I had to be careful when dealing with them in order to not make them lose their Desires. Devils are beings of Desire as it was explained to me.

"And she included you on the order." The brunette answered. Me? How? I was clear. Protect them while they evacuate and treat the wounded. Not me. Was it possible that they were becoming more free, even with the King Piece? In normal circumstances, I would be happy with that, but there wasn't anything normal with that situation.

Akeno closed the one step distance that existed between us, wrapping my head around her arms. Surprising even myself, I let her, resting my head on her stomach. "I didn't want that for her, for any of them." I said at last. They shouldn't have to fight anymore. They shouldn't have to see the horrors of the battlefield, after all the suffering they passed through.

"No one wanted what happened yesterday either, Shirou." The girl said, running a hand through my hair. Although I had spent I don't how many hours already in bed, my eyes were getting droopy, and I felt my body relax with her ministrations. I don't know if she was casting some kind of spell or my body was really that tired. Whatever it was, it was working its way into my system.

"What... happened... in the end...?" I asked though my mind was getting blurry. The soft touch of her hand in my scalp, coupled with the exertion from both my physical and mystical abilities, added on top of the sweet scent from her invading my nostrils, it was getting hard to maintain myself awake.

I felt something then that I hadn't felt in a long time. Peace, in all levels. There was so much to do yet. I needed to get the story behind the whole thing at school, I needed to know what happened to the other girls, I needed to cast my beacon, I needed to find someone who would care for them once I was gone.

But right now, on the arms of the Shrine Maiden, I only felt peace.

I fell into a blissful dreamless sleep.

* * *

Three days after the events on the school and two after I woke up, I finally received a full account of the story around everything that happened that night. Apparently that freakish creature that I vaporized was called Kokabiel, one of the leaders of the Grigori, who, as it turns out, are the de facto leaders of the Fallen Angels, like the Maous are for the Devils and God is for Heaven.

Just that God is dead, so who's leading Heaven right now? No one knew about that. Anyway, the ragtag group of Ise, Kiba, Koneko, Saji and the two Exorcists from the Church had managed to track the Excaliburs down, but were defeated during this first confrontation and lost Excalibur Mimic in the process. The group of the Fallen Angel reforged the pieces of Excalibur together and created a monstrosity that I'm glad I didn't get to see.

They fused the pieces into a single sword. A Fused Excalibur. Thankfully it was broken by a combination of Kiba and Quarta attacks on a being known as Freed Seltzen. Just hearing the name of this bastard made my blood boil. Apparently he was one of the exorcists on the Church the first time we went to rescue Asia, and he had, or had meant to rape the blonde Sister. I didn't ask anymore about that because I didn't want Asia to recall anymore from that time, but if this guy appears in front of me alive at any moment, he'll be dead before he can get a word in.

I say this because the guy was actually rescued by another man named Vali, who as it turns out, has another Longinus class Sacred Gear with the spirit of a Dragon trapped inside. Albion, the White Dragon Emperor, the natural enemy of Ise's Ddraig, the Red Dragon Emperor. Anyway, the Vali guy was ordered by Azazel who's the actual Leader of the Grigori to come and get Kokabiel to stop his plan, but was all too happy in watching the chaos unfold. And, after I had already left the place, wanted to find me to fight because I was the one who had defeated Kokabiel and Vali wanted to fight a strong opponent. In short, a battle maniac. Since he couldn't get the Fallen Angel anymore, he only collected Freed's unconscious body, who nobody made sure if it was dead or not, and took off with him.

There was another person of interest in the place at the time too. The Archbishop of Genocide, the guy who made Kiba suffer through all of those experiments he had told me. At least this one they were sure it was dead. Shame was that Kokabiel was the one who killed him, not the others. No one understood why the Fallen did that, but since the one who died was a psycho, no one cared.

Shidou carried his body along with the pieces of the broken Excalibur back to the Vatican. That was the other interesting thing about them. Even knowing that God was dead, the twintailed exorcist's Faith didn't waver. She continued to not question her leaders, contrary to Quarta who started to do just that and was excommunicated because of it. Quarta now is a Knight on Rias' Peerage too.

Speaking of Rias' Peerage, they fought pretty well during the whole incident, Shitori's too, and only were in that situation because Kokabiel was really too strong. All the wounds I saw when I got there on them was because of the Fallen Angel, not because of his beasts and soldiers. That would be impressive if it wasn't sick. Also, apparently Rias has a new Bishop too, or better saying, she always had another Bishop but had to keep him sealed away inside the clubroom because his powers were too unstable and he couldn't control them well.

Quarta apparently will train him now, for some reason. I don't know what a Knight can train a Bishop on, since they are fundamentally different, and Quarta herself is a new Devil, but tactically speaking thinking outside the box sometimes is good. Maybe the ex-Exorcist will teach him how to defend himself during close combat, to not rely solely on his unstable powers, things like that. Though the barely hidden mirth on Akeno's face gave a chill down the spine. I haven't met him yet, but I'm already feeling bad for the boy.

Back to the battle though, one other thing made proud and worried at the same time. The ex-Holy Maidens along with the other four former members of Riser's Peerage weren't supposed to be there. According to Shitori, they were supposed to be evacuated along with the rest of the school staff, but they couldn't in the end because the escape route was blocked by beasts and other attackers.

They protected all the staff members, didn't receive much injuries themselves and managed to guard the school entrance against any invader, forming a wall against anything that tried. I only noticed their fear because that was when Kokabiel entered the field, but they weren't attacked directly by him, thankfully.

Ajuka had come to visit too and discovered some interesting things. First, Solveiga's Pawn Piece and Julie's Rook Piece mutated. According to him that should be impossible since I am not a Devil, but it did nonetheless. Second, Julie's Sacred Gear achieved something called a Balance Breaker, that is supposed to be a forbidden technique. In this form, her Shield Of Apostles evolves into Secret of Apostles. It creates twelve shields, all stronger than the original and each can be moved independently with her mind or shield anyone she wants without conscious thought. She only needs to mark a person or a place and the Shield will begin hovering around the target and protect it.

The third thing he discovered was that my King Piece that was already a Mutation Piece apparently is mutating again. Another impossibility, but could be the reason that triggered the mutation on Solveiga's and Julie's Pieces in the first place. The fourth thing was that the impressions of feelings I was getting from the girls actually now go both ways. They too get impressions from me and the stronger the feeling the clearer they feel. I tried to argue that this couldn't be good for them, but he said that there was nothing he could do, it was part of the mutation. It could affect their behavior but it shouldn't be as problematic as the loyalty problem that he still couldn't solve.

The final thing he told me was something I didn't know how to feel about. Apparently he and Levia-tan had blocked me from Peerage, and Lucifer also would in the next few days. When I asked what that meant, he said that they had me marked to be a Piece on one of the Maou's Peerages, that way it would prevent other random Devils to try and recruit me. On one hand it would be useful not to have to worry about random requests coming from the Devils, but on the other hand painted a target on my back. If I was marked that way, any enemy the Maous had would try and attack me and my charges. At least he guaranteed me that this block was just a formality and they didn't have any intention of actually following through with it. Ajuka had most of his Peerage completed and would need a mutated piece to try and recruit me, because his Queen Piece was already taken and he didn't have any other Mutated Pieces. Levia-tan also had her Peerage completed, so only if she traded away one of her Pieces, one of them died or if she dismissed them would be possible for her to recruit me.

Lucifer was another problem entirely. Apparently he didn't recruit anyone into his Peerage that was a Sacred Gear user, but all of them were strong enough without them. For now, that wasn't a problem because his Peerage was almost complete, and he only had a Pawn left. The problem was that the Pawn he had left _was_ a Mutation Piece. I just hope I don't have to meet him before I go home. There's no way to tell how someone as powerful as him, capable of controlling the whole Underworld would react to a refusal. Lucifer isn't a name associated with kindness and understanding after all.

Another change that occurred in the last few days was that the school was closed for the next two weeks, and we would receive our assignments at home and the teachers would take house calls to answer questions. In the meantime, everyone was to continue attending classes online. The only problem with that was that I didn't have internet at home or at the dorm. I spent a whole day scouring the city in order to buy more than twenty computers. I got a good deal in the end when I managed to buy all the girls laptops instead. It wouldn't take as much space and they could use them in the dining hall of the dorm or their own rooms. The connection with the internet was trickier because I had to spend the whole time the technician was inside the house with him. The guy couldn't stop himself from leering at the girls.

Seriously, isn't there a single normal guy in this town? Are all of them perverts? After I sent him away, I did a scouring of the rooms where he'd been and, when analyzing his work, discovered that the guy had either misconnected the cables in three points or did it deliberately just to be called back here. I redid the connections myself with the help of an online guide Akeno found. No way I'm letting that guy inside here again. If I have to call for assistance, he'll be turned around at the door.

My problems with the technician aside, now we had internet in the house and dorm. It also became somewhat more easy for us to communicate with each other, because in the deal with the laptops came a cellphone for each unit, though most of the girls were as hopeless with it as I was. I mean, the things didn't even have buttons for the numbers to be dialed. The four buttons on the thingamabob were to turn it on, turn volume up and down, and a 'home' button. It took me exactly seventeen minutes to make Akeno stop laughing at me and explain how the Root be damned contraption worked.

She only said touchscreen at first, but then demonstrated. If I didn't knew any better, I would think that it was some kind of Sorcery. I'm sure that forty or so years ago if any Magi came up with something like this they would be called a Sorcerer. That is, if Magi understood anything about technology in the first place. Fact of the matter was that in the end the dorm and the house were connected to the internet and now the girls could call me if anything happened. I mean, the internet isn't just for porn in this universe, and I doubt they would go looking for it, but just to be on the safe side I asked them not to. With the things they lived through, just seeing things like that could trigger some unpleasant memories.

Another change on the girls happened in relation to Akeno. All the ex-Holy Maidens of the dorm started calling her 'Akeno-sama' for reasons that I'm not sure I want to find out. I was out of it for most of two days, and I have no idea what the Shrine Maiden had done to them for them to speak with her with such reverence. When I asked her why they were doing that, she gave a honest and confused look and said she didn't know. When I asked a few of the girls, they too didn't seem to understand why, just that it felt right to call her that. Being stonewalled by both sides of the issue I let it slide. No use trying to get them to say anything against their will.

Well, with all that happening, today was the first day that I finally managed to make some time to continue doing what I was supposed to be doing four days ago. Tinker with the beacon spell some more. The spell was supposed to send a sound signal of S.O.S. to my house, or at least its vicinity, back on my world. I was making a lot of assumptions with it, though. One of the assumptions was that Fuyuki City and Kuoh Town occupied the same space in different dimensions. That way, one of the calculations was to target the specific spot where my house was, but if there was some kind of difference between the two worlds, I could be sending the signal to the middle of space. Another assumption was that the sound itself was being heard. I toyed with the idea of change the calculation that did that to augment the volume of the alarm, but since that was too fine tuned, I could put too much vibration in the air and change the whole thing into something only dogs and bats could hear. I could try and solve it better, but that would take too much time and it would disrupt the spell's rhythm. The assumption that hurt the most was that time was synchronized here and there. By my apparent age, I could have been sent back in time, for all I know. The dates here matched, though that didn't alleviate my worries. There was a Fifth Magic Mystic Code present during Rin's experiment, after all.

Right now I should be getting home from school, but since at the moment school equaled several hours of sitting in the living room looking at a monitor, I elected to just copy the textbook and leave the time for more important things, like trying to get this spell to work or maybe discover if it is really working or not.

Or I should be at least, not doing what I am actually doing at the moment. Tracing another arrow, I fired at he impromptu target I made with some of my notes on the Beacon Spell pinned against some packed hay on the far side of the workshop. My intention was to hit it without actually damaging any of the letters written on it. So far I haven't been very successful in my attempt to clear my mind with that mindless challenge I had imposed myself.

I released the arrow, nailing it in between two sentences, without as much touching the ink either above or below.

"I'm sure whatever you're shooting at would be dead by this point." I heard the voice from behind me that made me turn with a start. I had been so locked into my thoughts that I didn't realize she was there.

"Oh, it's you." I said, nodding my head at the blue eyed King.

"You know, it never ceases to amaze how easily you do that. I can't even project well yet." The redhead said, walking inside the workshop proper. "Though I'm getting better." She said, concentrating. A few seconds later she projected an inch square box made of wood on the palm of her hand and handed it to me.

A quick analysis told me that it was really better than our last session, but it was still too brittle to be usable for anything other than training the projection itself. "It's a good start. Maybe next time we'll add Reinforcement to the projection."

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, I'd like that." Then she frowned when her projection crumble into prana bits on my hand. "These things don't last more than a few seconds. Not like yours."

I shrugged. "In my world this is just an exercise to learn how to manipulate your own Od, but you guys already know how to do that, so what you need is actually different. You need to fine tune the usage of the Od to the projection, and not add Mana to it until the projection is already complete." I demonstrated creating a copy of the box she had created before. "Like this." I handed her the box.

I saw her concentrating on the box, then sighing. "Yeah. It's harder than you make it sound."

"I'm actually making it sound easier than it really is." I grinned at her. "It took me years of training to be able to do what I do, though in my case it was more because I continued working at it for far more time than it should be necessary. Problem was, I didn't know anything else."

She looked wistfully at the box. "It was so much easier when I had access to your blueprints." She shook her head. "But I don't know if I could do that. You think about everything in those terms all the time, right?"

"Not all the time. Just when I'm using my techniques, though in case of my Structural Analysis, its almost second nature at this point. Sometimes I have to consciously turn it off, otherwise I would be analyzing everything I see all the time." I smiled ruefully. "What can I do, its just who I am."

"Yeah. Akeno is actually better than me at that too." She frowned then leaped a little to sit on my workbench. "Do you have any idea why's that?"

"She has more than double your number of Magic Circuits. Channeling Od without them is hard, though Projection and Structural Analysis only really need a single Circuit open to be able to use it." I grimaced, narrowing my eyes at the arrows still stuck on the wall. Something doesn't feel right. "So what you lack is actual practice. Sometime ago I had Akeno go over the entire house with Structural Analysis looking for bugs on the walls, floor and ceiling."

"Yeah, she told me that." She frowned. "Maybe I should try too?"

"Structural Analysis is one of the few mysteries I know that is possible to cast without an Aria, so you could try and use all the time." I cocked my head to the side, looking up. "And I think that Akeno is doing that too. Yesterday I saw her glaring intensely at one of my side dishes during breakfast. Thinking about it now, maybe that was what she was doing." I said rubbing my chin. It would make sense. Shaking my head to banish the thought, I continued. "You just have to make sure no one mystically aware is near you, because who knows what they'll think you're doing."

Rias chuckled. "Yeah. I can imagine that they'll think I'm trying to look into their spirits or something absurd like that."

I shrugged. "Well, Soul Dive is an advanced form of Structural Analysis," I explained and her eyes widened at that. "just that one of the requirements to be able to see anything and to analyze once there, is that you need to understand the nature of your own Soul first. Your Origin and your Element. Know thyself, right?"

She hummed and silence filled the room for a minute. "Shirou, I have a favor to ask."

I notched another arrow. "Sure. Shoot." And released the arrow.

"Well, you know that I have finally released my other Bishop, right?" She said.

"Yeah?" I prompted.

"Well, he's..." She was cut off when my door bell rung. That seemed to deflated whatever courage the crimson haired Devil had built up, because she simple shook her head. "Go ahead."

"Just a minute." I exited the workshop and went around the house only to hear the tail end of a conversation between Akeno and what was apparently whoever had come.

"...mistaken." Was the last word the only thing I could actually hear from the Shrine Maiden.

"But you have to believe me. If you don't leave now, all you girls will be in serious trouble!" That would be the unmistakable voice of Tohsaka Rin. I hadn't even got into full view and was already able to imagine the conversation going at the gate.

"I don't know where you heard that story, but I believe you are mistaken, miss...?" Akeno trailled off. Apparently they hadn't even introduced themselves yet, because the other woman said.

"Tohsaka Rin. You have to-" And stopped herself when she saw me. "You!" With a finger pointed at me, she made the mistake of trying to force herself past Akeno, because on her first step she crossed over the Boundary without invitation, the alarm blared and she shrieked.

Immediately I took off back to the workshop, to almost collide with Rias who was coming out in the direction of the alarm. "Don't!" I said to her, and reset the alarm, before running back to the gate. "Okay... What the hell you think you're doing, woman!?" I loomed over the invader, who was still holding her ears.

"What the hell was that? This house is haunted after all, isn't it?" She said.

"That was the alarm!" I answered truthfully. "Anyone uninvited who enters the premises triggers the alarm."

"Who keeps the alarm of the house active while they are still inside!?" She shrieked again.

"Someone who takes his job seriously, knows how to adjust it and has more than twenty charges inside the perimeter!" I fumed at her.

"How can you-" She didn't get to finish her sentence.

"What do you want, woman?" I asked her again, still annoyed. "If you came here to harass me or the girls again, I'll have to escort you out and call Sakura-san."

She paled for a second, freezing on the spot, then her face turned to me. "N-N-No. There's no need for that." She took a step outside again. "I just came to talk with you, you chauvinistic worm."

I blinked at her, myself freezing with her words. That was a new one. "Is this one of your older girlfriends, Onii-sama?"

The jab from Akeno didn't even register as I dumbly answered, still gaping at the woman. "No. That's my stalker."

"I'm not a stalker!" The stalker shrieked again.

"And what following me around without reason amounts to?" I pointed out to her.

"I had every reason and you know it! You are the same as him!" Rin's face began to get redder and redder with rage. "You will break their hearts in short order, or worse, keep them all pinning!"

I put a hand on my temple, trying to stave off the headache that was coming. "Okay, woman. Didn't we already estabilished the reasons why there are so many girls in this _GIRLS_ Dormitory? Hasn't Sakura-san already told you to stop harassing me?"

"Th-Th-That-" The trenchcoated woman sputtered. "That has nothing to do with this. I came to talk with you!"

"Then spill it already, woman!" The recent alarm was getting me worked up and I didn't really like the way she was talking. She may have the same face as my Rin, but that was it.

"My name is Tohasaka Rin." She got into my face with a finger pointing up.

"Stop stalling and talk!" I almost growled at her.

That seemed to do it. She closed her eyes and reigned in her temper, but when she looked up again she shrieked when she looked at my back. I trailed her line of sight only to find more than half of the ex-Holy Maidens on the front yard glaring at her. I sighed, trying to pull my own emotions in check, after remembering that they all could feel my emotions the stronger they were, and Rin always got strong reactions out of me.

"Girls, I have to have a discussion with Tohsaka-san right now. In private. Can you give us some space?" I asked in the friendliest tone I could muster, even as the rest of the girls were starting to pile out of the house.

Akeno was the first to react to my request. "Shirou. Are you sure?" I just nodded at her and, after looking at me for a few seconds, she bobbed her head back. "Alright," Then turned to the rest of the girls. "Let's leave them."

The girls looked torn in between obeying my words and continuing to glare at Rin, who seemed to be cowed by the glares. It really didn't fit. Rin and cowed were two things that really didn't mix. "Come on in." I said to her.

She looked at me dubiously. "The gates of hell won't start screaming again?"

I almost chuckled at her definition for the sound my alarm made, considering I had more than twenty Devils inside the house at the moment. "No. Now, come on in." I looked over to Akeno. "I'll be in the workshop." The brunette nodded and shooed the other girls to the house.

"Shirou!" Rias said as soon as I appeared at the door. "What hap-" She stopped when as she saw the other woman behind me. "Who's that?"

"Tohsaka Rin." I introduced her. "I have some private matters to discuss with her. Can our talk wait for later?"

"Ah," She looked between the two of us. "sure. I'll go talk with Akeno in the meantime."

"You do that." I said as I passed her and patted her head. She gave a squeak at the move and eyed me bewildered, because I never did that to her.

When the girl was out of the hearing range, I pulled a bench from the corner and gave to Rin. She was still looking around the place with a frown on her face. Except for the Formalcraft circle on the floor, it would look like a normal storage shed to anyone who looked. The other thing would be the notes on the workbench, but those I immediately covered with other blank pieces of paper and stacked them neatly in the corner.

"So? What exactly do you want?" I asked her after she took in the sights.

She turned to me and coughed in her hand once. "Right." She too a deep breath. "Emiya-san, my sister said something to you when we were here the other day."

I nodded. "About the Owner thing."

"Yeah." She winced. "About that... I was kind of hoping that you didn't talk to anyone else about it."

I cocked my head to the side. "Why?"

"Only people who are already aware of it should know. Outsiders aren't supposed to." She sighed and put both her hands on her face. "But since you are already probably questioning other people about it, it's better that I tell you so you don't spread the word anymore."

"Okay..." My voice was more uncertain than I was actually feeling. Whatever this Owner thing it was, I knew I wasn't one anyway.

"Let me tell a story first. Around three hundred years ago, a certain artifact was discovered by a group of people." She began and I felt a chill down my spine. "This artifact was said to have a great deal of power and was supposed to grant great boons to whoever possessed it."

"You've got to be kidding me..." It came out of my mouth without me actually wanting to. At least she didn't heard me, or elected to ignore me.

"Problem was that there were fourteen people on that expedition, and only one person could actually possess the artifact." She continued, folding both her hands in front of her. "A fight broke out in between the participants..."

"And they killed each other, losing the artifact." I finished her explanation. It was the Grail War all over again. So Owner meant Master in this universe? But in that case, how could she not see the difference between an alarm and a Bounded Field? Were they not actually Magi, or whatever was the equivalent here?

I realized that something was not right when she gave a wide eyed look of confusion mixed with fear. "What?! NO! No one was killed. How can you say that?"

Deciding that bullshitting my way through was the best answer I explained my reasoning. "If something is so great, then its obvious that greed will take over the people who were there."

She hung her head. "No. No one was killed." Then her face came up again, but it was twisted in a frown. "At least not at that point. The fourteen conferred with each other and realized that since there was no way to decide who should receive the artifact, they could then fight for it. They created a tournament, where they would fight each other and the winner would be the rightfull owner."

Okay, a little different. "And?"

"And it was a disaster. They started to attack each other on the back, killing each other needlessly, until there were only seven left." She continued.

"You just said that they didn't kill each other!" My voice become a growl at the woman, who looked back impassively.

"That's because they didn't kill each other in the wake of the discovery. They did after the tournament was decided." She fumed, then reigned in her temper. "Anyway, those seven survivors realized that it was a fruitless effort to try and continue because they would end up killing one another needlessly in the end. So, using a ritual they asked for help from God and the artifact was broken into seven Parts. Each Part was given to one of the survivors and they carried with them to their death beds."

I continued to try and imagine the Grail been broken into Parts like that. It would destroy it, but another thing occurred to me then. Three hundred years ago, God was already dead, since the Great War was long over by then, and the Devil Civil War was in full swing.

"It was stated in their wills that those fragments of the artifact would be passed on to their Heirs, more as a symbol than anything else." She crossed her arms and looked down. "But they disappeared instead. Every single one of the Parts disappeared."

"Okay..." What?

"A hundred years after the first expedition, and after the deaths of all the first participants, another was formed, using people from the same families and others that were interested to fill in all the fourteen slots." Her eyes came up to mine again. "Can you guess what happened?"

"They found the artifact whole again?" I presumed. "And began to fight each other again?"

"Nothing. They didn't find a single shred of evidence that it even existed in the first place. It became a legend." She frowned. "But when they came back, seven of them had received a Part of the artifact. Not one of them remembered how they got it. They were clear on that no one had found anything, but seven had a Part with them."

"What? How?" My disbelief continued.

"The pattern repeated itself fifty years later." She didn't even acknowledged my words. "Then fifty more after that. That was a hundred and twenty years ago. The next cycle was seventy years ago. And again, twenty years ago, if the cycle was maintained. But it wasn't. Seventy years ago, there was no expedition. No one went to the place where the artifact was supposed to be located. The documents that detailed the route of the expedition were lost, and in the end, the expedition was cancelled." She looked at me again. "But even then, seven people connected to the seven original families received a Part of the artifact."

I was openly gaping at her now.

"Then, three of them died soon after receiving their Parts, and everyone thought that they were lost. But no. It was discovered, years later, that a person who was a descendant of the original seven that died before the tounament received a Part instead." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. "Then the other two Parts were found in possession of other two members of families whose ancestors died on the initial tournament as well. After that was discovered, the other four were assassinated and the Parts again, went to families connected to the other four that had died originally. The seven Parts switched from the seven families that survived the initial tournament, to the seven that had died." She summed up. "Problem was that when those seven too died, either of old age or assassinated, the Parts disappeared completely. No one knew where they were. It was a manhunt after all the descendants of the original fourteen. But no one found anything."

This is getting weirder and weirder.

"Until around thirty years ago." She opened her eyes again. "A baby, left on an orphanage, was discovered to have a Part of the artifact. Then months later, another person, completely unrelated to the fourteen was discovered to have it as well. Then another. So far, eleven people who are completely unrelated to this were found. Six of those eleven were killed. Five are still alive and are under protection of one of the seven original families that survived the initial tournament."

Okay. I think I finally got the point. "And you think I received one of these Parts."

"Do you?" She asked.

Interesting story, but completely impossible for me be one. "What does these Parts do in the end? What was the artifact in the first place?"

"No one knows what the artifact was. No one was able to reunite the seven Parts together and rebuild it, exactly because of what each of the Parts does." She leaned forward with both elbows on her knees. "As for what they do... Well, it's hard to say, exactly. You know the concept of the Seven Sins and the Seven Virtues?"

"Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness and Humility. Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride." Having read so much about them in the last months, it was hard not to know.

"Yes. Those." She sighed. "The original seven Parts were all Virtues. It was as if the world itself acted in a way around the Owner of the Part to make it the Virtue hold stronger. Whoever had Temperance, for example, had self-control and deferred from gratification, and whoever was accompanying him, also practiced the same Virtue. The longer a person was in the Owner's presence, the more that person was affected. It was the same with all the Parts. That is, until they were passed to the descendants of the seven that died. The Parts acted in the exact opposite way, they practically enforced one of the Seven Sins. One of the Owners died because of his Part. It was Gluttony. He kept eating and eating without stopping, and the people who were with him too, until they ran out of food and started to canibalize themselves."

That... wasn't a pretty sight to imagine, much less see.

"Nowadays, of the five known Owners, we identified Sloth, Kindness, Temperance, Greed and Wrath. The other two, Chastity or Lust, and Humility or Pride, we don't know who they are."

I processed her information then asked. "And why do you think I have one of these in the end?" I asked, trying to understand. "You seem to think I'm some kind of sex fiend." Then it dawned on me. "You think I have the Lust Part." I narrowed my eyes at her.

She shifted uncomfortably on her bench. "Well, you do live with... I don't know, how many girls do live here?"

"Twenty one, but that's not the point." I was working myself up in rage. "Why did you even think I could have- Why did Sakura-san think?" I said the last part remembering that it was her who first brought it up.

"Because..." She took a deep breath. "The Parts empower to a certain degree the Owner when they are acting in accordance to their Part's meaning. You said yourself. You helped rescue all these girls from horrible places only for them to live with you. It would make sense if you had the Lust Part. It would empower you to go beyond your limits to reach that goal."

I looked at her in disbelief. "You gotta be kidding me." I said, giving my back to her and walking to the wall were my arrows where still stuck on the hay stack, then turned back to her. "In the end, you simply can't believe that I helped them at all without a reason like that, do you?"

"Your story is full of holes." She got up from her seat. "Look at yourself. You are still in high school. How can I believe that someone would hire a high school student to locate their daughters in the first place? And even if they did, how could you locate them so easily if they were being kept as you said, as slaves?"

I decided to cut short on her reasoning. "And how would I know that this whole hocuspocus you just spouted is true anyway?" I asked her. "You just told me a story that was, quite frankly, a plot for a b-movie or a very bad fiction book."

"Here, I'll show you." She held out her palm up, and in her hand a golden light appeared. There was no sign of prana or anything, it just appeared in her hand a small orb emmiting a golden light. "This is the Temperance Part." She said after a moment.

My eyebrows went to my hairline. I took a step closer to her and when she didn't whitdrew it, I examined closely. To my dismay, I couldn't analyse the damn thing. All I could see was the light, but there was absolutely no substance in it, or prana for that matter. It didn't even give an aura of anything. "What in the Root?" I muttered. She closed her hand and I looked blankly at her. "You..." I felt something similar to this before already... a Sacred Gear.

"I'm a descendant of the seven survivors." She noted. "My case is somewhat special because I was the first person directly connected to one of the fourteen original families to receive a Part after they went missing the first time."

"The seven survivors... The Tohsaka family..." I said dumbly.

"Tohsaka, Koto, Silva, Smith, Lewan, Hikmat, Rahman, Bankole, Ibori, Einzbern, Kotzias, Matou, Pavlidis and Souza." She recited the list. "Those were the families that were part of the original expedition."

I recognized a few, obviously, but the majority was an unknown to me. "... what..." In the end it was all I could say.

"I'm asking you because since the Tohsaka family received a Part," She paused the corrected herself. "I received a Part, so some of the other families are going after the other Owners, trying to make it so that they receive their Part back as well." The woman explained. "So, please, its for your own good. Are you or not an Owner?"

"My own good? What do you mean?"

She bit her lower lip and sighed. "What do you think the other families would do to the Owners?" She asked then continued before. "They kill them, in hopes that the next person who receives the Part is from their family."

"That's..." My eyes widened. "I don't even know how to describe the stupidity of what you just said."

"I know. You know. And they probably know as well, but they are doing it." She shook her head. "Please, tell me the truth, otherwise the Tohsaka family won't be able to offer you any kind of protection."

"I'm not." The answer was instantaneous. "There's no way I would be an Owner." I'm not even from this world, for crying out loud. "I would have since birth, right?"

"Not... necessarily. I received mine ten years ago." She dashed that hope of mine. "It just reappears to the person most suitable to receive it."

"But..."

"And the person who receives it, instantly knows what it is. They may not know from where it came from, but the person at that moment becomes an Owner." She continued.

"If I knew everything you said, then I would be an Owner, right?" I said, finally relieved. "Good, than that's all the proof I needed."

Rin frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I was thinking that maybe I had received it inadvertedly," I told her, smiling and feeling reassured. "but if I knew instantly, there's no way, right?"

"Well... yeah." The woman admited in the end.

"So no worries. There won't be anyone to attack the girls because of me..." I sat down again. "That's... good."

She looked at me strangely for several seconds, before saying. "You really do care about them, don't you?"

"Care?" I was almost offended by the insinuation that I didn't. "They are everything I have in this world."

Her eyes narrowed at me. "Aren't you being a little possessive?"

It was my turn to knit my brows. "What do you mean?"

"What if they found boyfriends of their own?" She asked bluntly.

"I would first discover if the guy deserved them, and if he did, I would give my blessing." Then I remembered Diodora. "If not, I would destroy the person in question."

She looked at me angryly. "That's exactly what I'm talking about!" She walked to me and poked my chest with a finger. "You don't get to decide their lives. They decide for themselves."

My eyes traced from her fingers through her arm back to her face, my own face contorting into a snarl. "Exactly! They should decide for themselves! Not like it happened with them before!" My voice was almost a shout at this point. "Not like almost happened to my sister."

Taking a step back she looked at me confused. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"Nothing." I reigned in my own emotions. "It's nothing. I just don't want them to make bad decisions. Or being forced to. The story I told you and your sister. You remember it, right?" When she nodded at me, I continued. "Don't you think they have the right to have some happiness on their lives? If they do fall for someone, I just want to make sure it isn't some psychopath or some kind of deviant. They deserve better than that." I exhaled, letting my head fall and the weariness that I hadn't even realized that I was feeling wash over me. "That's all I want for them."

"I... see..." Remaining quiet for several seconds, I finally lifted my head to look at her only to realize that she was looking at me strangely again. "You really are just like him..." She said quietly. I don't know if it was for me to hear it or not.

"Who?" I asked anyway.

Her eyes widened. "Oh. No." The woman blushed. "It's nothing. Nothing at all." She gave a fake laugh with the back of her hand below her mouth. "I was just thinking that you are..." She trailed off without finishing the thought.

I could guess what she was thinking. The same as my counterpart in this world. "You still love him, don't you?" The question left my mouth before I realized.

"Wh-What?" She took a step back. "Who would love that... that..." And she's a tsundere too. Great.

"You don't need to hide it." I closed my eyes again. "I have a friend who's exactly like you. Even if she doesn't have any chance of being reciprocated, she still pins over her love."

"Wh-Wh-Who do you think you are?" Rin started sputtering. "I-I-I have age to be your mother. Wh-Why are you talking like you know everything?"

"I don't." I answerd her as I opened my eyes to look directly at hers, pinning her with a stare. "I just call it like I see it. Age doesn't factor in that. And you aren't that old yet."

Continuing to try and say something, but not being able to, she simply turned her back to me, crossing her arms with a "Humpf." while blushing up to her hairline.

I chuckled at that. I had to take back my initial assumption that she and my Rin were nothing alike. Her mannerisms right now screamed 'Tohsaka Rin'. "Is there anything else then, Tohsaka-san?" I asked.

She jumped in place. "N-No. That was all. I just ask you to not divulge this secret. It's important."

"I know, I know. Don't worry." Just lost my whole afternoon because of something that won't affect me in any way. At least, I hope so. "I have my own share of secrets too."

She whirled in place at that admission and began to watch my every move like a hawk. "Like what?"

I chuckled again. "Now that would be telling. It wouldn't be a secret if I told everyone I meet, right?" The blush on her face grew again. "Don't worry. It was an interesting story, but as far as I'm concerned it was just that. A story." Then a question was niggling into the back of my mind. "The baby that was on the orphanage... Was it Tohsaka-sensei?"

Her eyes widened at that, then closed again. She didn't answer the question though.

"His Part, what was it?" I pressed on. "Kindness?"

She kept silent, and when I was about to ask another question, she answered for me. "Wrath." I stopped stock still at that.

"What?!" My counterpart had an artifact that empowered him when he exercised what the Part was about and that Part was Wrath? The same guy that sat on my living room drinking tea like it was normal received the Wrath Part?

"The Part doesn't control our behaviour. They can empower us when acting them out, but does not control." She sighed. "He had several problems growing up, but that's not my story to tell." She walked to the door. "Thank you for your time, Emiya-san."

I looked at her dumbly for a few more seconds. "Hmm... Sure." Then something occured to me and I fished a blank piece of paper and jotted down my number. "Here. If you need help with anything regarding these things, just give me a call."

"We don't need your help." The woman said, even as she took the note and put on her pocket.

"I know you don't, but just in case. I'm also a repairman, aside from my work here, so if you have anything that needs to be fixed, just give me call, I'll even throw in a discount for you." I said while we walked to the gate. "Have a good afternoon, Tohsaka-san." I waved at her as she began walking down the street.

When she began her story, I thought that this world had a Grail War analogue. The truth was weirder than that. Why does everything in this world comes down to these types of religious things? Or perverted things? It was always one or the other.

Shaking my head, I went back to the house. My stomach was rumbling.


	8. An Unwilling Realization

A/N: Don't own anything

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 **An Unwilling Realization**

* * *

It has been a week since the school has been closed and we had come to some semblance of normalcy inside the dorm and the house. Most of the 'classes', if you could call it that, were done first thing in the morning just so we could get it out of the way and most afternoons we would go to the school to help in the rebuilding process. Seeing the school totaled like that made me all the more aware of the kinds of monsters exists in this world. Granted, most of the destruction came from Caladbolg, but if I had to use that much power to destroy only a single Fallen, then what about the rest of the supernatural world? If that Vali guy had been sent to retrieve Kokabiel, then he was probably even stronger than him, right? And that guy wanted to fight me now.

Today, for a change, we weren't at school because they would be using some rituals on the place to aid in the reconstruction, apparently, and they didn't want us to be near when they used them. Either that, or they simply didn't want to be near me. I noticed several of the Devils that had come to aid in the reconstruction eyeing me warily. So, since we couldn't go to school, Akeno and Rias asked for another session on Magecraft and having nothing else to really do, I conceded.

"You said a few days ago that you understand the nature of your own Soul, right?" She asked and I nodded. "What exactly does that mean?"

"Hummm... I literally saw my own Soul from the inside several times already." I answered her after thinking about it a little. As always during these sessions I was firing arrows at the haystack in the corner. One, because it calmed me down, and two because I told them to keep trying to understand the process of projecting. The arrows I'm projecting aren't traced, just simple empty husks with the form of an arrow.

"How did you do that?" Rias asked. "Isn't it dangerous to Dive into you own Soul?"

I made another arrow and notched on the bow. "I didn't Dive. I couldn't Soul Dive at the time, after all."

"Then how?" The Shrine Maiden was at the workbench, but instead of sitting on it, she simply crossed her arms under her breasts and leaned against it beside Rias.

"My Reality Marble." I said, firing the arrow. It struck on the same spot an earlier arrow had.

"Your what?" They both asked at the same time.

"My Reality Marble," Repeating, I projected and notched another arrow. "my strongest mystery. It basically conjures the world of my Soul and overwrites the world around me with a copy of it."

"The world of you Soul?" Rias parroted.

"As with everything I do, is a lot more complicated than that." I released the arrow on the same spot I had fired another earlier again. Every time I did that, the arrow disappeared in bits of Prana once struck on the haystack. There was a reason for the conversation to be ongoing. as well. It was so they could train their multitasking. I turned back to them smiling ruefully.

To my mild surprise, Akeno wasn't even looking at me but at the haystack, although Rias was paying rapt attention. "Complicated or you don't know how to teach." The redhead teased me while pouting.

"Hmmm... maybe a bit of both." I conceded. "I never thought I would have an apprentice, so I didn't actually took lessons on how to teach."

"What? We're your apprentices now?" Rias raised an eyebrow while leaning forward.

"Is that the kind of play you like, Onii-sama?" Akeno apparently was multitasking even more than I realized. Paying attention to the conversation, while studying the arrows and finding time to needle me, but even if her sentence was the kind of thing I expected from her when she was being playful, it didn't have the same impact when delivered with such a flat tone.

I elected to ignore looking at the redhead. "Aren't you? I mean, I am teaching you guys things that are meant to be passed down on the lineage. Not that I care about my lineage, since there probably won't be any." I shook my head turning and notching another arrow a little more strongly than before.

Something made me feel agitated.

"You won't have a lineage?" She asked and I sighed at my blunder.

"Yeah. I'll probably die long before I have kids, and even if I have one, I'll still won't be able to pass down anything."

"You don't think you'll have a lineage?" If I was looking at Rias at that moment, I'm sure I would see question marks floating over her head.

"What is a lineage? What is needed to have a lineage?" I asked releasing the arrow. It went right through the target and stuck to the wall, before disappearing. I frowned at that. Did I Reinforce it without meaning to?

"Kids? A wife? At least a rented womb?" She tried.

"No." I shook my head. "In Magi terms, there are other things that are needed before you even think about having a lineage. First is mysteries that can be passed down. My strongest mystery, my Reality Marble is something that it was achieved only five other times in Magecraft history. It's not something that can be easily passed down since most of it is instinctive and depends on the Origin and Elemental Affinity of the person. In my case it was possible because both my Origin and Elemental Affinity is Sword."

"Origin and Elemental Affinity?" She asked dubiously, but then shook her head. Probably filing it to ask later. "But if you don't have mysteries you can't have a lineage?"

"I can in the genetic sense. Not in Magi terms, unless I develop mysteries that can be passed down and are not already in use by other Magi families. If they are already in use, even if the name of the family is different, it would be called a branch from that family."

"But that doesn't make any sense." The redhead continued. "If you have kids, they'll continue your lineage whether you like it or not."

"In a genetic sense, yes." I answered, projecting another arrow and making sure I didn't Reinforce it this time. "But Magi lineages are much more than just that. For example, the Tohsaka's are famous for their Jewelcraft, the Einzberns are famous for their homunculus and Alchemy, the Matou for their familiars, the Fraga for their advanced Runecraft, and so on. Every family can be traced to a single individual who started it all and from there their kids and the kids of their kids continued to develop over their first famous ancestor's craft. Some disappeared over the years, as technology evolved, like the Wright and Dumont families who were famous for their Sorcery to fly, but when it became technologically possible to fly, their Sorcery became Magecraft and they fell into obscurity. Their lineages started to not matter for their children and grandchildren, until it disappeared completely and their Family Crest was lost. They don't have a mystic lineage anymore because of that. Others changed when technology caught up. The Gauss family changed when one of their sons, that wasn't the heir and wasn't happy about it helped create the precursor for the telegraph. Until then, the Commcraft was what their lineage was famous for. It took more than a century, but with the telegraph came the telephone and from then on it continues to change. Nowadays, the Gauss family's Commcraft is trying to keep themselves ahead of the curve. Their brand of Magecraft is used in the Clock Tower for real time long distance communication. Some of the mysteries they can conjure are almost like you are there on the other side of the world conversing in real time with the other person, without delay and face to face. Some go further and create simulation of physical contact."

During my lecture, I continued to notch arrows on the bow and firing them when Rias finally said. "All those names... some of them I recognize."

"Well, the Wright and Dumont were the ones who are credited with inventing the airplane, for instance, depending on the part of the world you are." I shrugged. "Their lineage may have been in decline on the eyes of the mystic society, but they became famous on the regular society instead." I paused before adding. "At least in my world. Here, I have no idea how it happened."

"So is not that you don't want a wife and kids," She circled back to the subject. "its just that you need to make your craft famous enough that your grandkids will want to continue it." She asked a little dubiously. "It still doesn't make much sense to me."

A regretful sigh came to me. "Yeah. I know. It didn't to me at first too, but after living among them for so long, we start to see the patterns. It doesn't mean that I won't teach my kids my craft if I see that they have talent or want to learn it. It's just that the lineage won't be traced back to me in that case. It will be to them. Or their kids, or the person who makes the craft famous. The oldest Magus family that I know exists for millennia already, even my friend's lineage exists for centuries too. But according to their own history, the lineage was traced back to the middle of the genealogy, not for the patriarch or matriarch of the family."

After finishing examining the haystack, I frowned. That was odd, I know I pulled the bow a little harder that time, but that shouldn't be enough for it to pierce the hay so easily, or to stuck to the wall for that matter. Weird. Then I turned back to the Devils, one still contemplating what I said, while the other was still focusing hard on the haystack as well. I raised my eyebrow at that but dismissed out of hand. I had to be forthcoming with them during apprenticeship after all.

At least, I think I should.

For a moment my mind focused on the feel of their energies and unconsciously I began to track their bodies with my eyes. Both of them were wearing casual clothes, or in Akeno's case, what she usually wears outside of outings or the school, a red Hakama over a white haori. Not quite a Shrine Maiden uniform, but quite close. Rias was wearing a white skirt over a black blouse, with black stockings covering her legs.

"Liking what you see?" Akeno said barely hiding her mirth. How in the world did the brunette realized that I was looking at them without moving her eyes from the haystack was beyond me. Still, there was a reason I was doing it, so may as well tell them.

"I was thinking that I finally understood why I didn't identify you guys as Devils, at first." I said, pulling my eyes from them and walking back to the Formalcraft circle, before turning back to the target and pulling the string on the bow, just that I didn't project any arrows this time, just going through the kata.

"Why's that?" I heard the redhead ask.

"Ever since I discovered that you guys were Devils, and about the Great War and everything else, I've been reading a lot of books about religion, the Bible, and so on." I began telling them. "The original Four Great Maous are dead. According to that... thing... that Fallen on the school the other day, the biblical God too is dead. They are the both extremes of the spectrum where the holiest of Holy and the damnest of the Demonic come from, in my world at least. Though over there there's only one on the low end of the scale, Lucifer. In this world, the Holy and Demonic energies don't come from them anymore, but from beings different than them, whoever is running Heaven and the governors of the Underworld. Their energy while similar, is not either Holy or Demonic, at least not to what I am used to." I released the string of the bow, and felt the vibrations of it before continuing. "In my world, both of them are alive. Well, alive isn't exactly the word. They are existences. They can't be classified. They just _are_. They can't be killed. Maybe because of that, they interfere with the world far less than here, like a regulator but not an enforcer."

She hummed in response. "Is that why that spear of yours is so ominous?"

"Probably. It's not the only demonic weapon I have, and I think I have even more holy weapons that demonic, actually, but I think that is the case." Again I began the kata. The girls were used to this during our sessions. Granted, today we weren't supposed to have one.

"If that was the power from the Great Maous before their demise, I can see why you didn't made the connection." Akeno said, then after a moment she continued. "You said you have more holy weapons than demonic weapons? How come?"

"Usually the type of enemy I battled didn't use weapons at all." Again I pulled the string strongly, the same way I had before. "Most of my arsenal is from the Grail War, where I had a glimpse of almost every single Noble Phantasm in existence, plus some that shouldn't exist at all."

"How come? Weren't only Seven Servants summoned to the Grail War?" She asked.

"Well, someone had the brilliant idea of summoning Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, as an Archer Class Servant." I released the string, but it didn't feel any different, aside from the vibrations. "Archer class Servants receive an unique skill. They are capable of Independent Action, meaning that can survive for long stretches even without a Master providing him with Prana. Anyway, Gilgamesh hadn't been summoned for the Fifth Grail War that I was part of, but the Fourth. He, with the help of another participant of the Fourth War, remained in the realm of living until the Fifth War and tried to take the Grail for himself. In life, he was said to have every treasure in the world, so his Noble Phantasm was, quite literally, every other Noble Phantasms in existence. And I was the one who battled him in the end, so you can imagine what it took." I sighed. "During the fight he used quite a bit of his treasury against me, and since I only needed a glimpse of a weapon to be able to replicate it..."

She shivered at the thought. "That's why you have so many weapons then."

I dismissed the bow and turned to them. Akeno was holding a piece of paper as if she was trying to decipher it. It was getting me curious. "Actually, even with all his treasury, he couldn't physically use it all against me. There was another Heroic Spirit during that War that provided me with far more weapons than him. Maybe not all Noble Phantasms, but he certainly let me see a lot more than Gilgamesh did."

"Another Heroic Spirit? You didn't get the name of that spirit?" She arched an eyebrow. "You usually refer to them as classes, not names. You didn't discover the name of this one?"

I sighed at my blunder and at her perceptiveness. "Actually, we discovered almost all the Heroic Spirits identities, except for Rider who was killed way too early, and Assassin who wasn't actually an Heroic Spirit at all. It's just that..." I grimaced again. "This particular heroic spirit..." My thoughts on Archer were more akin to kinship these days, since I could feel myself going down the same path, but what I wanted more than anything else was change my fate.

"What about him?" Rias was eagerly listening.

"Look, let's just say that he was what I don't want to become and leave at that. I really don't like to talk about it." I sighed. "Maybe someday, but today's not a good day."

They lapsed into a silence and then Akeno broke it. "Shirou, this spell." She questioned. "What does it do exactly?"

I looked over the note she was reading and realized that was the summoning Aria. "I had shown this to you before, right? It was to summon a Servant during the Grail War. It connects to the Throne of Heroes, but I couldn't change the Aria enough to work for me." I shook my head. "In the even if I did, it would work because this one is to summon not to send."

"No, I understood that, but what it does exactly? How are the arrays aligned? What are the equations for it?" She asked again. "I can't figure it out."

I looked at her, puzzled, then sighed. "I haven't been able to correlate anything in the Aria to any of the calculations you guys use here either. I think that it's because it doesn't actually have a correlation. Or maybe it would need another type of Formalcraft circle. I never went in too deep into that because it was useless after the War was over and the Grail dismantled."

"Hmmm..." She continued studying the Aria. "But you said that it could work with that circle you made."

"I think it would, but then the Servant would be weaker, like Saber was during my time." I turned again to the target. By now it was so riddled with holes that it would be better to simple change the hay or repack it. "It should be possible to used it without a summoning circle, but if you don't have the reagent, odds are you'll get a Servant that isn't compatible with you, or worse, too compatible. Not to mention that it relies on the Grail to do all the heavy lifting for it to work."

"What do you mean?" Rias asked.

"It's like going to a Restaurant you never went to before. If you don't have the menu, you don't know what you'll get if you ask for anything. The menu in this case is the reagent, or better yet, the item you select on the menu is the reagent. The food you receive is the Servant and the Cook is the Grail. The only thing you needed to do is select the item of the menu and the food was brought to you." I finished my decidedly crude analogy.

"So you select a Servant through a Reagent and the Grail summons it for you." She nodded. "So, this here is basically useless?"

"In part, yes, I think it is." I sighed. "I mean, without the Grail to do the actual summoning part, there's no way to use it to summon an Heroic Spirit, not to mention that in this world there are no-" I cut myself off, coughing on a closed fist, when I realized what I was saying. "I mean, there's no Grail."

Akeno narrowed her eyes. "Shirou..."

"What?" I asked, forcing a bewildered look on my face. The Shrine Maiden was about to press on, but I was saved by the bell, on in this case, Rias' ringtone.

"Hello?" The Devil answered the call and started grimacing moments later. "Alright." Another pause. "We'll be there in a few moments." She ended the call and turned to Akeno. "We need to go. Shirou, we'll continue another time, alright?"

I nodded at her and both of them disappeared in bursts of Prana, with Akeno still narrowing her eyes at me.

I almost blurted out that there was no way that a Heroic Spirit could be summoned in this world because the Souls of the Heroic Spirits too enter the cycle of reincarnation instead of being sent to the Root to be cleansed. Though, thinking about it, that shouldn't be possible, because even the Soul of the Heroic Spirit isn't sent to the Throne of Heroes, there should be other versions of it there, so why does it feel like the Ritual of Summoning wouldn't work on this world?

I shook my head to clear it. Akeno would undoubtedly ask me again about this. I need to find a good cover up lie so that she isn't too suspicious about it. I can't very well tell her that I know that a good portion of the reincarnated Souls of the Heroes of the past are part of the Khaos Brigade, the Hero Faction. She shouldn't be aware of them yet.

And they'll not be aware of them for now. At least, I hope that I can keep them unaware of them.

* * *

Two days after the school reopened, I was starting to get things in rhythm again, with the girls easing themselves again into the same rhythm too, I had few things to actually worry about at the moment, aside from the obvious that were dragging since forever. The beacon spell for one, the completely grinding halt that the search for new Kings for the girls came to, was another. In that case specifically it was even worse in the case of the girls that weren't connected to me, such as Mihae and Marion. They didn't even seem to be worried about looking for a new King in the first place, content to live here with the others, which kind of makes me worried about their future once I'm gone.

Another thing I should be doing I think would be tracking down Rias' Bishop, Gasper, since she asked me to help him with something about his Sacred Gear that made him activate it without conscious thought. I hadn't even caught him anywhere. I knew he was a first year here on Kuoh, but even after walking the up and down the hallway of the first year classrooms I didn't find him.

At the moment I'm trying to track down Kusaka or Shitori, though. They were the ones who helped me with learning the calculations for the spells that are used around these parts and I wanted some advices. Sure, I could ask Akeno like in the beginning, but Rias had her occupied lately a lot with something.

Normally, when I wanted to talk to either of them, I simply go to one or two places, the Library or the Student Council Room. And that's what I did and couldn't find either. Actually, I couldn't find anyone from the Student Council anywhere today, which was... weird. Ever since our practices came to a stop, it was like they were avoiding me. Or maybe I didn't go look for them often enough. I don't know.

Kusaka and Meguri both started avoiding me after that incident some time ago too. Only Saji still tries to talk to me. Emphasis on the _try_ , because invariably either Nimura or Hanakai, sometimes both, appear out of nowhere and cart him away. Which isn't helping me right now at all. I was going down to the first floor to see if they were on the athletic fields or maybe in one of the other clubs when I saw a scene that would be unconventional if it wasn't for the participants.

Ise was dragging a girl around by the hand who was in turn dragging a cardboard box, in the direction of the woods. What's worse, the girl was completely frightened by whatever the pervert was doing. I sighed and went after them, trying to catch up. It wasn't hard, seeing as the girl kept trying to get free from his grip and I had a bigger stride than them both.

When I finally managed to get near them I bonked Ise in the head. "What do you think you're doing?"

To my surprise, it was the girl who shrieked first and apparently teleported to below the cardboard box, leaving only her eyes visible through an opening on it. "Ouch! Sempai? What was that for?" Ther pervert asked me.

"What do _you_ think you're doing, kid?" I asked in return. "It isn't enough that you have almost all the girls on Rias' Peerage drooling over you, for reasons that I can't comprehend, you still have time to drag another girl around?"

"What?" He asked me dumbly.

"What do you think you're doing with her?" I asked again, pointing a thumb to the cardboard box which started to shake.

"Her?" He continued to look at me dumbly, before following my thumb. "It's not a her. That's Gasper." He said after realizing who I was referring to.

"Where?" It was my turn to make a confused face, while looking in the direction of my thumb, trying to get a glimpse of the elusive Bishop.

"Gasper, the Bishop of Buchou's Peerage." He reiterated.

"Good try, Ise." I said when I realized that there was no guy around. I lowered myself, pulling Ise down with me to crouch in front of the cardboard box. "You can come out now. The pervert won't do anything. I promise."

I tried to give a reassuring smile, but the box only started to shake harder. I cocked my head to the side and Ise finally managed to free himself from my grip. "Gasper, get out of there. How can you become more manly if you continue hiding?"

"I-I-I can't!" A voice came from the box and it was decidedly androgynous. Either that or a girl with a very... strange voice.

"C'mon, man. Introduce yourself to Sempai. He's the one I was talking to you about." The pervert said and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What have you been talking about?" I asked.

"That you are the most manly guy I know. You already got your own ha-" He was cut off there when a lightning strike came out of nowhere and hit him.

Looking up I saw the floating form of Rassei who was just a few feet above a smiling and running Asia. An smiling and running Asia who was coming full tilt in my direction. That can't be good. "Oniiiii-chan!" She screamed with delight in her voice.

It was all the warning I had to brace myself. The blonde missile hit me in the back and I almost fell over the cardboard box that was trembling even harder now, if that was possible. "Asia?!" I asked as the girl who tackled me.

"Onii-chan! Have you seen Issei-san and Gasper-kun? I'm trying to-" She then tilted her head to the side. "Issei-san?" She looked at the crispy form of the boy on the ground, that was partly hidden by a tree trunk from her point of view when she came near us.

"I-I-I-I'm okay, A-A-Asia-chan." The pervert tried to say, but there was still electricity going through his hair at random intervals.

"Oh?" She put a finger to her cheek making a confused face. "What happened?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." I answered her then turned back to the cardboard box. "He was accosting another girl a few minutes ago."

The boy jumped up. "Oi! I said that's Gasper, not a girl!"

"Gasper-kun?" Asia looked at the cardboard box. "You can't continue to hide like that, Gasper-kun. You have to be more brave."

"Hmmm... Asia? There's no guy hidden there. Just a blonde girl that Ise was pulling along." I explained to the former Nun.

"Oi!" The pervert was heard again. "Gasper! Get out of there and solve this misunderstanding!" He said, pulling the cardboard box from over the girl and I was greeted by a sight that it took me time to understand.

First, the girl's eyes were shinning in pink. The other thing I noticed was that she had... pointy ears? Another thing was that only now I realized that she was a Devil. The fourth and most important thing, was that both Asia and Ise were frozen, completely, as if they were statues of themselves. Then the girls eyes turned to me and I felt a wave of power wash over me. Instantly I had both Kanshou and Bakuya in hand poised to strike the girl.

"Stop!" I heard Ise cry. "Sempai, don't do it!"

My mind didn't even register as the girl looked at me wide eyed with something in her eyes that was a mix of fear and awe. "What did you do?" I asked again. "Depending on the answer, I might have to cut you down right now!" The fear in her eyes got even stronger and the wave of power passing trough me too.

It was then that I received a smack to the back of my head. "What are you doing to my cute little Bishop!" The unmistakable voice of Rias cut through my haze.

"This girl was trying to cast some kind of spell on me, after doing the same to Asia and Ise." I answered her without taking my eyes of the platinum blonde on the ground, who was sitting with her hands behind her back and was scooting away from me.

"Gasper?" The redhead said and then smacked the back of my head again. "Stop scaring him!"

"Him?" It finally dawned on me that everyone was referring to the girl as being the new old Bishop.

"Yes. Him. Gasper!" She said getting in between me and the girl, err... boy, I guess.

I looked over her shoulder to the crossdressing boy and then back to her again. "Why in the name of the Root is he wearing that?" Then I realized, and my voice came down to a growl as I turned to the pervert. "Iseeee..." I started to walk in his direction. "What kind of sick twisted play are you forcing your underclassmen to do?"

He looked at me with equals part afraid and confused. "I have no idea what you are talk about, Sempai! I didn't do anything!" He screamed.

Another slap to the back of my head, this time hard enough to make me take a step forward. "Damn it, woman!" I turned to the redhead. "Stop doing that and let me engrave the fear of retribution on his bones!"

Apparently she didn't want to talk anymore, because she simply stepped closer and pulled me by the ear to a point where she could look at me at eye level, which was a terrible experience since she was shorter than me. "Shirou, first, this is Gasper. Second, he's dressed like that because he likes female clothes. Third, Ise didn't do anything to him. Fourth, the _spell_ you were talking about was the favor I wanted to ask you about!" She finished with shout.

Processing the information, I looked at the crossdresser, blinked, then back at Rias. Another blink then back at the boy. "By Zelretch's fake beard, why are you wearing the female uniform?" I asked with a mix of indignation and desperation in my voice.

He put both his arms parallel to each other in front of his chest, with his hands closed into fists just below his chin, and drew his knees together, while both forelegs were sprawled to the sides in a girly pose if I ever saw one. "They're cute." Came the response in a small, tearful, voice.

I swear, is there someone normal in this world? Worst of all, the boy looked way too cute to _be_ a boy. "Argh." I tried to shake my head to banish the thoughts that was creeping in my mind about him and Asia in a pony farm, but since Rias hadn't let go of my ear yet the only thing I managed was to yank my own ear harder. "Let go, woman."

"Only after you get rid of the swords." She said. Looking down I blinked when I realized that I was still holding Kanshou and Bakuya. I dismissed them. "Good." She let go of my ear and I began to rub it.

"By the Root, woman, were you trying to take home a souvenir?" I said to the redhead.

"If you didn't threatened my subordinates I wouldn't have to do this." She answered in a huff while crossing her arms.

I sagged my shoulders and looked back at the boy who at this point was only looking at us with curiosity in his watering eyes. Then it hit me again, the real reason I called my swords instinctively. He felt like a Dead Apostle. I narrowed my eyes at him and got close, literally sniffing him.

"Humm..." I heard Asia's voice from behind me, uneasy. "What are you doing, Onii-chan?"

Without taking my eyes off of him and I took a step back. "What are you?"

He looked from me to Rias then back. "I'm a Devil of-"

"No. I know you are a Devil, I'm asking why do you feel like a Dead Apostle." My forehead wrinkled when my eyes narrowed further. "What were you before being turned?"

He looked at me with even more fear than before and, I have no idea how, the cardboard box practically materialized above him, trembling again.

"Shirou," Rias said, this time not like before, she wasn't angry, more like confused. "you talked about these Dead Apostles before... What were they again?"

"Basically, vampires from the Moon." I answered offhandedly, still eyeing the box. "Or descendants from them actually."

"Oh. So that's why..." She came to some kind of conclusion. "Gasper was a Dhamphir, before I Reincarnated him."

I cocked my head to the side, finally turning to the redhead. "Where did I heard that before?"

"He's a half-vampire." She answered. "His father's a Vampire and his mother was human."

Oh, right. Those experiments. That was the term that Magi that tried to reproduce the effect of a novel or book he read and hired me to capture a Dead Apostle instead of killing him on sight. He called them that. Took me some doing to capture one, only to have to kill him later because the experiment landed him a Sealing Designation. If I had known what the guy would do, I would have killed him before I went through the trouble of capturing one in the first place. "I see."

"Anyway. I wanted you to help him control his powers better, if you could." She said then turned to the boy. "But I think you frightened him too much right now..."

I looked at the box and it was trembling again and I couldn't even see his eyes through the opening in it. "Yeah. I think it'll be counterproductive..." Then I knelt in front of the box and it went oddly still. "Sorry for the late introduction, Gasper. My name is Emiya Shirou. Since today doesn't appear to be a good day, tomorrow let's talk, okay? You can come to my house if you want." I got up and turned to Ise and Asia. "I'll be going now. Sorry for the misunderstanding, Ise." I turned my back to them and waved to Rias. "See ya."

They waved me off as well, and I began my trek down the slope of the forest back to the school grounds proper. I was passing through the front of the Kendo Club when something caught my interest. Karlamine was talking with one of her teammates. I only stopped because I heard my name being said.

"Emiya-dono isn't like that!" Her voice was level, but I could sense the underlying current of threat on her tone.

"But... You know what all the rumors say, right?" Another voice I didn't recognize.

"Rumors are baseless accusations of people who have no knowledge of the matters and fabricate stories to cover what they don't know." Karlamine's voice continued resolute. "Don't believe in what you hear without seeing with your own eyes."

"But I saw him talking with the Perverted Trio more than once, and my sister on the second year told me that he once went into their classroom and extorted them, even threatening them with a pencil." The same voice again, being concurred by another two.

"And? What talking with fellow students have to do with anything?" She asked again impassively. "As far as you know, he could be very well threatening them to not do anything perverted, which, as far as I know, they have been somewhat more tame after Emiya-dono had a talk with them."

"That's..."

I gave up on continuing eavesdropping on their conversation. Rumors about me is something that I try not to give much thought. As long as it doesn't affect the girls, I don't care about me. I'll not be here for long anyway. I was about to enter the school proper when another voice came from the corner of the main lobby. "How are you going to respond?"

"I'll reject him, of course." Another voice that I knew. Giselle's.

"Why? He's cute." Oh, looks like she received a confession.

"Because I don't like him, and also I don't like that he didn't come to talk to me in person, instead of using letters." Correction, a love letter instead. Whoever the guy was, apparently he didn't even bother to know more about the girl. Giselle was direct and didn't like dishonesty and subterfuge. Sending a love letter might have done him more harm than good. I shook my head and continued walking.

"But he likes you!" The girl was insisting?

"And I don't." Her voice came in a higher pitch and my eyes widened. "I'll never again-" I cut her off before she said anything that she might regret later.

"Giselle." I said with a jovial tone and when the group of girls looked at me with wide eyes I smiled at them. "Do you know where the others are? I can't seem to find Asia, and she asked me to help her with a project."

"Oh, Shirou-sama." The girl half-bowed to me. "No, I didn't see her."

"Oh." I put a fake disappointed face, then looked from her to the girls and back. "I'm sorry, I interrupted you." I patted her on the head and turned back. "See you later."

A few steps later I heard they start to whisper among themselves but didn't feel like Reinforcing my hearing to eavesdrop again. I walked in the direction of the library when someone made a motion with a hand around a corner. "Psst!" I looked at the hand, then around me, but since I was alone in the hallway, the only one that could be was me anyway. I walked in the direction of the door. It was suddenly opened and then someone grabbed me by the collar and pulled me inside the room, closing again behind me.

When I turned, I realized that I was inside one of the first year classrooms, and I had almost reacted instinctively, tracing several swords that I had already pulled the blueprints of, when I realized that the one who had pulled me had been Saji. He was still looking out the door when I asked. "What was that for?"

"Psst! Lower!" He said in a whisper, before signaling for me to crouch with him. "Now there's no way they'll get in the way." He turned to me. "Sempai you've got to-"

"Who get in the way of what, Saji?" I asked in my normal voice.

"Shhhh. Lower. You have no idea how long it took me to set up this." He said again.

"Set up what? Speak clearly, man." Again, in my normal voice.

"Aahhh... Forget it." He said, scratching both hands in his hair strongly, before turning to me. "You have to tell me, Sempai, no, Shisho. How do you managed to get so-"

He was cut off when, completely out of nowhere, or better saying, from the open window, a softball nailed him in the face and sent him sprawling back until he hit the back of his head on the wall beside the door. I looked at the ball, then at the window, then back at Saji, who was unconscious. Okay, that was some power on that ball. Getting this hardhead to lose consciousness with a single strike isn't easy. I know because I broke at least one bokutou on him during training.

"Sorry, Sempai!" Hanakai appeared on the window. "We lost our ball. Did you see if it fell inside here?"

I was holding the item in question in my hand, but since I could see that the white haired girl was wearing her normal uniform, not her gym one, I highly doubt that she was really playing softball on the courtyard that window opened to. In the end I shrugged and tossed the ball to her.

Whatever. I still had to find either Shitori or Kusaka. Now that I think about it, Hanakai could help me too, but I didn't have that much rapport with her. I left Saji where he was and got out of the room, finally reaching the library, but to my frustration there was no sign of the twintailed brown haired girl anywhere. Sighing, I was about to go to the Student Council Room again, but heard another whispered conversation on one of the aisles.

Again, I only stopped because I heard my name in there. And again was a troupe of girls cornering one of the former Holy Maidens, this time it was Khalilah. "...is Shirou-sama."

"But why don't you give a try? Maybe he's a good person?" Another girls voice.

"The way he talked about Shirou-sama on the letter was enough for me to see that he isn't a good person." The Pawn answered. Another love letter?

"Shirou-sama this, Shirou-sama that. It's like you live your life for him." A different voice.

"I would, if I could. He doesn't want that from us. He wants me to be free, but knows that I can't really be." Her voice was sad and I could feel it from the connection with her Piece. I frowned because she was getting too close to telling the truth about her situation. That couldn't be good.

"But that guy has all sorts of bad rumors about him ever since he came here." The first girls voice.

"Yeah. And Kaichou is always going after him. As soon as the year started I saw him helping her as punishment." The second voice.

"Did you two asked Kaichou about him? Or anyone who actually talks with him?" The Pawn's voice was getting louder from her serene one she was using until now. Problem was we were all still in the library.

"Shhhhh" One of the two made the noise.

"Sorry, but I just think that Shirou-sama has a bad reputation because someone doesn't like him and started spreading these baseless rumors. If you just talked with him, you would see that he's not like that at all."

"But..."

Again, I decided to let them continue talking and left through the other door, to make sure they didn't see me.

Making my trek up to the third floor, I tried the Student Council Room one more time but no one was there. I had half a mind to wait there for them to come back, but decided against it in the end. Today was one of the few days that I actually didn't have anything to do. I could go to the Archery Dojo and shoot some arrows, but after my display during the competition I was doing my level best to not go there.

Going to the rooftop of the east building that had been rebuilt in a way that seemed like it hadn't even been destroyed in the first place, I was trying to think something to do, but was drawing blank. I had left some time today exactly because I planned to have some lessons on spells, but without the girls to read those scratches on the Tomes I was left only with the notes I had already taken during the time I was trying to create the beacon spell, and those were things that I had already poured over enough times to have memorized even the creases on the paper.

I was about to open the door of the rooftop normally when I felt that there was someone already there. Another one of the girls from the house. This time, to my surprise, it was Akeno. I stopped without opening the door, imagining that Akeno must have been called once again to receive a confession from someone and was about to go back down when it opened from the other side. A brown haired guy I'm not sure to have seen or not around school got past the door and stopped when he spotted me.

His face that was sad, turned to surprise then to anger then to resignation, all in the span of two seconds. He looked back down the stairs and continued his way without saying a word to me. I looked at his back puzzled for a moment, before again deciding that whatever it was, if it had something to do with me, I would discover sooner or later.

Opening the door, my breath almost caught in my throat. On the other side of the rooftop, Akeno sat on the railing with her back to the courtyard, but her body was turned to the left so that she could look at the people walking down there. The sun light on her back and her customary ponytail flowing in the breeze made the scene feel surreal, as did the somewhat pained look she had on her face. Not even the fake smile was there.

I closed the door again, and I don't know if she didn't hear it or not, because she continued to look in the direction of the front gate. I thought that she would be running some errand for Rias at the moment, but from the way the guy left before, the supposition that she had been confessed to held some truth. Again. She wasn't called one of the two Onee-sama's of Kuoh for nothing, after all.

I walked to her right side, leaning over a little to rest my elbows on the railing. "Are you okay?" I asked after we spent almost two minutes without saying anything, just watching the people down there.

"Yeah." She said in a small voice without moving. "It was the same as always."

"Same as always?" She continued to look at the courtyard and I imitated her.

"Someone watched me from afar for too long and embellished the image he had of me so much that he forgot to try and discover who was the real Himejima Akeno and who was the image he had created inside his head." She said without much inflection on her voice.

I hummed in response, not actually knowing how to respond to that. "Must be though." I decided to say in the end.

"Yeah." She gave a resigned sigh. "It is." She leaned her back against my side. Even with me leaned over the railing her head still come up only to my shoulder, which she took advantage of to rest the back of her head on. "Hey, Shirou, do you ever wonder why do people do that?"

"Do what exactly?" I asked her somewhat unsure about which part of that she was referring to.

"Embellish what they admire from afar." Her answer was tinged with sadness.

My face turned rueful. "I don't know. My case right now is kind of the inverse from yours." I chuckled wistfully. "Just today at least two of the girls received love letters that instead of talking about them were used to bash me, apparently, and Karlamine was having a discussion on the Kendo Dojo about me too. From the tone of the conversations it seemed that I'm not really well liked around school."

She chuckled. "Yeah. I heard the rumors too." She crossed her arms, hugging herself. "That guy that just left did the same thing. Bashing you, I mean."

I raised an eyebrow, even if she couldn't see. "Really?"

"Yes." She lowered the pitch of her voice. "That guy won't make you as happy as I can. Please go out with me." Then chuckled once she was done with the impression and returned her voice to the normal tone. "He doesn't even know anything about me, and was talking like he knew all about my life." Her tone was regretful when she finished.

"Hmmm..." We continued that way in a somewhat comfortable silence. I had almost thought that the girl had slept on that position. We spent a good deal of time that way without talking, and the breeze was blowing through made me feel all the more aware of the heat coming from her body. It was a nostalgic feeling if I had ever felt one, even though I knew it has been less than a year since we met.

"Sometimes I came here just to look over the horizon." She said breaking the silence. "Not much lately though. Someone took over the spot."

I could hear the mirth on her voice and chuckled at her light poking. "You are always welcome wherever I am, you know that right?" I said, then chuckled again. "Except in the bath."

"Hooh..." Her answer now came with open amusement. "It's good to know that these are the thoughts that are first and foremost on your mind." Her voice then turned to a mocking one. "Oh, what would you do with me if I came inside the bath again?"

"Again?" I asked instantly before recalling that she really did come inside the bath when I was alone once. "Oh, yeah. Well, if you did, I would have to punish you."

She jumped down from the railing, but I didn't move because she put her back to mine. "Oh, really? What kind of punishment you have in mind?"

I chuckled again. "Hmmm... I don't know, maybe a good spanking would suffice?"

"Spanking?" She asked and I felt her body shake with her laughter. "Too tame."

"Tame?" That made me confused, then I remembered who I was talking to. The girl whose trigger is to use a whip to strike at... scratch that. The less I thought about it the better for my mental health.

"Oh, yeah." I felt her move again, this time embracing me from behind. "You would need to think of something worse than that to dissuade me."

"Hmmm... I think I have a few ideas." I answered her still with my eyes on the horizon, but my attention was all on the arms that were enveloping my chest. "But I don't think you would like to hear them." I turned around on her arms and leaned back on the railing still leaving my elbows on the metal bars.

She looked up at me from that position, then moved her arms from the around my torso to put them on my neck. Her body coming closer to me again, while she leaned her upper body back using her hands around my neck to support itself. From anyone looking from the outside we would look like a couple about to kiss, or having just kissed. "You don't know that. I can end up surprising you."

I smiled down at her. "Maybe but I won't tell you. If I did you could prepare yourself mentally for it, then it would be ineffective as a punishment later, don't you think?"

"Hmm, I don't know." She said, her violet eyes brimming with mirth. "Maybe I would want to be punished anyway?"

I tried to scowl playfully but felt my own face contort into a involuntary smile. "I always thought that you weren't into receiving punishment but dealing."

"I'm not." She answered instantly. "But then, I haven't really experienced that side of life yet." Then she closed her embrace into me, pushing her whole body against mine and putting her chin on my shoulder. "I wonder if I'll someday."

I lifted one of my arms and put on the small of her back and the other to the back of her head, caressing just below where she ties her ponytail. She turned her head to put her face on the crook of my neck. Her smell was something that I had come to equalize with tranquility and peace in the last few months that I had her living with me. "I'll not say something irresponsible as 'I guarantee it', because the future is something we don't have any hold over." I pulled her lightly once, tightening the embrace, then letting go and resting my arms again on the railing. "But if you really want to, you'll find it."

I thought that she would let go of me when I released her, but she only tightened her own embrace on me. It was comfortable, so I didn't say anything. We continued like that for quite some time after that, neither of us saying anything. I thought that she needed to go to the Occult Research Clubroom by now, but she didn't made any mention to move and kept herself in my chest during that time. I realized that we spent so much time in that position that the sun was beginning to set in the horizon and in a few minutes the bell would ring to warn the students about the end of club activities for the day.

After another minute or so, I felt her shake once. I frowned and tried to pry her away from me and she didn't actually protest this time, letting me see her face. Her eyes were lined with unshed tears and her face was contorted with something that I couldn't actually identify.

Then out of nowhere she hit me in the chest with the back of a closed fist, then with the other, starting to cry openly. I immediately pulled her to my chest again, bewildered by the reaction. I didn't understand it, but something must have triggered something on the girl and she was getting more and more frustrated with it. I don't think I ever saw her cry so much in the time we spent together, so I only kept her in my embrace.

"You know what I am, right?" Her voice came after she stopped struggling. "You saw in my memories, right?" It was a broken thing, that didn't befit her at all. She was one of the stronger people I knew, even if she hid her insecurities better than most, she was still one of the more grounded girls on this place. For her to break like this...

Pulling her face from me, I cupped her cheek with my right hand, drying her tears with a thumb caressing under her eye. "I promised that I wouldn't say anything about that."

"And yet... despite that... you pulled me from living in that place." She leaned her face on my hand, closing her eyes. "You let me once again feel what it was to have a home to go to. What it was to live in a real house, with people who love each other. Don't get me wrong, I loved living with Rias-sama on the Gremory mansion," I was a little startled by the way she addressed Rias. She always addressed her as simply Rias or Buchou when at school. "and they treated me like a daughter, but it wasn't the same as living with my mother when I was young." She opened her eyes and the raw emotion on them were indescribable. "But when you did that, and after living there with you and Asia and the other girls, I was finally starting to feel like I had a real family again." Then she punched me again on the chest, without any actual intent to hurt. "But all you think about is going home. All you do is try and leave us. How do you think that makes us feel?" Then she put her head on my chest and added in a small voice. "How do you think that makes me feel?"

I didn't process the last part because I was honestly startled by the first. She was actually right about that. I really wanted to go home, so much so that I kept casting the Beacon Spell every day, in hopes that Rin or Zelretch would come to get me. I had thought about what they would do once I was out of here, and was taking steps to make sure they were seen to, that they wouldn't be left hanging, specially the fifteen girls that were connected to me through the King Piece.

But I hadn't actually thought what would happen to them emotionally and cursed myself internally. I let them get too close, in the end. I shouldn't have meddled so much in their affairs, but now that I was here, and had already created this parallel world just with my presence, I couldn't just abandon them anymore.

Without been privy to my inner turmoil, she continued. "And even knowing that I'm a half-Fallen, you never did anything against me. Never once judged me because of what I am." Her face came up again, looking into my eyes directly while I was dumbfounded by that revelation that shouldn't have been a revelation in the first place. I knew what I was doing, but I forced it to be on the back of my mind, labeled as something not so important.

"Himejima Akeno is Himejima Akeno." I said to her in the end, still bewildered by the reaction she was getting out of me in that situation. "I don't care if you are a half-Fallen, a Gorgon, a Siren, a Demon, a Succubus. You are you, and that's that. Same for everyone else." I heard myself saying that but my mind could only actually process one thing.

This creature in my arms is beautiful.

In the crimson light of the setting sun, her delicate features were accentuated and her body proportions reminded me once again why she was given the title she shared with Rias. Her femininity was almost ethereal and the flush of the tears on her face seemed to only underscore the notion that she was what I had forced myself not to notice all this time. A perfect specimen of female beauty. I knew intellectually that she was beautiful, but when such a perfect woman was standing right in front of me, my mind went completely blank. I couldn't think of herself as simply as a girl anymore, but as a woman. She was not something that should be allowed to exist outside of the perfection that is idealized only in the imagination of artists.

She looked at me startled with my declaration, just as I was startled by both revelations I just had in short order. "Why do you keep doing this?" She asked me, her voice a mixture of rage and sadness. "Why are you so... so... nice to me." Another punch, this time harder than before and I actually felt it. "Why can't you have some kind of flaw that makes me want to hate you?" Again, with her other arm.

I let her get it out of her system, continuing to cry on my chest. The sun had already set and the bell for the end of school had already rang but I continued there with her, until I decided to explain to her. "I've... never told you or anyone here, I think... but Rin once called me distorted."

Her face came up slowly to look at mine, when I gave a sardonic smile. "What does that mean?"

I looked up at the sky, and the first stars that were starting to appear. "When I was five years old or so, I was caught in a fire. I should have died there, but was saved by my adoptive father." I shook my head slowly from side to side. "It's not a nice story, and people who hear it usually get unnerved by it, that's why I don't tell it often. It doesn't actually do anything to me. I still remember it quite well, it's one of the first memories I have, actually."

"And what does that have to do with being distorted." She asked again, her fury partially forgotten for the moment.

I sighed and looked back down at her. "I told you about the Grail War that I participated before, right?" She nodded. "There was another one, ten or so years earlier. The fire was because of that War. My father had won it, but he elected to have his Servant destroy the Grail instead of asking for anything. He realized that the Grail had become corrupted at some point in the past and didn't want anyone using it. The power from it, combined with the attack from the Servant destroyed eight blocks of Fuyuki City in a fire. I was the only survivor, and only because my father did something to me. Problem was that until he found me, I was wondering around that hell, trying to find a way to save myself. But there was none, all around me there was only the cracking noises of things burning, not even cries for help I could hear anymore. I must have been on the street when the fire broke out because I was the only one there, alone."

She shivered with the image I was painting her, but continued to watch me without saying anything. I looked over her head in the horizon.

"I kept walking around, trying to keep myself away from the fire, the air itself was hot enough to burn my lungs, and the ground melted the soles of my shoes on the first few steps. During all of this, all I thought about was getting out of there, finding some way to survive that hell. Until fear of death caught me, and I froze in place. I couldn't move anymore, but I knew on the back of my head that if I didn't, I would. That was the first time I felt my mind break, and I lost something then. I stopped thinking about the fear, and that let me continue walking. Every time something else made me freeze, a moment later I lost the same thing. Faith, hope, hunger, thirst, courage, determination. Bit by bit, I lost everything on that fire, until I had nothing left but my life. That was when my father found me. He treated me back to health, and I survived, but I can't be called a survivor of that fire, because I lost everything there. My life was the only thing spared in the end." I closed my eyes. "In some ways, I was born on that fire."

I looked back down at her and she continued to look at me in the eyes, searching for something there. "But you aren't like that..."

I chuckled mirthlessly. "I have regained some form of what I lost during the years after that, but in the end its like I'm copying it from others. They are not really my feelings. Maybe that's why it's so strong when I manage to feel something." Again I cupped her face. "Your emotions, when I saw your memories, I'm ashamed to admit, but they were more fuller, more intense, than anything I have ever felt. Or at least, anything that I can recall feeling. My emotions are like my blades. Copies of the originals. That's why I am distorted, Akeno."

Her face warped into a scowl. "But then everything you did until now was because you were copying someone else?" She asked apparently repulsed by the idea.

"Not really... I don't think I explained it well. When I said that I felt like I lost something, that wasn't quite right... It's not like I lost them forever. They were hidden away from me on the back of my mind and in order for me to continue living as a human being and not as an automaton, I began to emulate others, copying their emotions. It takes something really powerful to make me feel again emotions that are really mine. And generally, when I do feel them, they overpower my sense of reason, and I act on instinct."

We spent another few moments in that position when she suddenly jumped away from me and put both arms behind her back. She apparently decided to change gears and not think about what I just said, because her smile became sly, with her arms behind her back in a coy pose. "I'll have to go now. I only came here because I can't exactly reject someone without meeting them." She said, clearly changing the subject, or trying to flee the place. One or the other.

"That would be rude?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow. I could see that she wasn't okay yet, but I didn't want to add anymore to the turmoil that my history must have created in her mind.

"No. That would be a waste." She grinned impishly.

"You like to see the devastation on the eyes of the potential victims?" I asked her grinning, as well. We both knew that we were faking our smiles, but decided not to point out to the other.

"Oh? How can you say that about fragile little me? I'm only a little girl." Her mock hurt tone was enough to drive me to laughs.

"Yeah, yeah." I waved at her. "What was the nickname Rias had for you again?" I pretended to think about it for a second. "Oh, right. The Ultimate S."

"Only when they deserve it." She said without moving from her position but angling her body back. "And he didn't deserve it."

"You talk about like that is a form of love." I was curious about that, actually.

"Oh, but it is. My love is a thorny path that only the one who can brave through it can receive the prize at the end." She said with conviction on her eyes and I felt a shiver run down my spine.

"I guess there's an old shoe for every twisted feet." I relented.

She tilted her head aside, making her ponytail wave with the motion. "You're always coming up with these sayings, you know?" Then she finally moved from her position to stand normally and put a finger on her lower lip while looking up. "If I didn't know any better I would think that you like to quote other people."

That made my mood sour a little. She hit a little too close to home with that remark. "Yeah. I like them, what can I do." I waved it off, my forced smiled was harder to form this time.

A smile that she saw right through. But she didn't say anything about it, before turning back to the door. She too must have realized that she hit a little too close. "See you later, Shirou."

"Yeah. See you later." I waved back at her, before moving to one of the benches. "Quoting other people, huh?" The sentence left my lips unbidden.

That hit me harder than I thought it would.

* * *

Later that night, thankfully Akeno was back to her normal impish self, and it seemed like she too didn't want to revisit the conversation on the rooftop, so I left it as a footnote on the back of my head and let it go, but I couldn't.

The conversation we had was something that I should have realized earlier. Should have seen it. Should have taken steps to prevent, but didn't. I have been chalking up all the emotional attachment that the girls have for me because of what I've done for them, specially the ones that are linked to me by the Pieces, but what Akeno said made realize that maybe what I'm doing isn't exactly a good thing.

I shouldn't have remained connected with them after I rescued them. The situation reminds me somewhat of something I heard about fireman and SWAT training. They use masks all the time so that the people that they save can't pinpoint their savior, and instead feel grateful for the corporation as a whole not an individual person.

I should have helped them. No doubt about that, but I shouldn't have remained in contact with them after that. I'm not going to be in this world for the rest of my life. I'll be gone sooner or later, and they'll have to fend for themselves then.

I looked down at the Formalcraft circle in the ground of the Workshop. I think that one of the reasons why I spend so much time here, inside this circle, nowadays was to feel a little like I feel at home.

I heard a knock behind me and turned to see Rias, once again at the door. "Hey." I waved at the Devil.

"Hey." She stepped inside and leaned against the wall. "What's up?"

I looked at her puzzled. "Nothing much."

She sighed heavily, closing her eyes. "Shirou... What's happening?"

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Akeno and Asia asked me to come." She said. "Both of them are distressed about something. When I asked them, Akeno said that she blew up on you earlier today and she thinks that she's the reason why you are more closed off now too."

I turned my back to her to hide my grimace. "Nothing much, as I said. It's just that something happened that made me realize that I'm still the same person I was when I was younger. Still immature in certain aspects."

"What do you mean?"

I sat down and closed my eyes, gathering my thoughts. "Remember when I asked you guys to take care of things once I'm gone?" I asked rhetorically. "Today I think I finally understood that there are some things that you will not be able to help, even if you guys want to."

"Well, that's obvious, don't you think?" She said and I felt her moving to sit on the bench by the worktable, behind my back. "I mean, Shirou, you know that your Piece mutated, right? And that the girls receive impressions of your feelings now too, right?" She sighed. "Shirou, they were so afraid that you were going to walk out on them that they came to me to ask what they could do, and once they discovered that you were not from this world, if there was a way for them to go with you. Things like that."

"Wait, wait, wait! First, why did you tell them that?" I asked, disbelieving that the girl had broken her promise.

"I didn't. At least, not intentionally." She sighed. "I was talking with Sona and somehow one of them, Tomoko, I think, heard part of the conversation and confronted me about it. With all the rumors going around the school about you, I decided to make things clear for her in order to make sure she understood the situation."

"Okay..." Yeah, in hindsight, I should have talked with them about this.

"And she told the others who came to talk to me if it was possible for them to come with you once you were gone." She explained.

I winced without even thinking about it. Bringing them with me was completely out of the question. Their whole existence needed mana to continue. No way my world could maintain them. I suppose if I could find powerful enough Magi, they could maintain one, maybe two of them if they made a contract with the Magus, but that would defeat the purpose, I think.

"I explained to them what I knew about your world, that you probably wouldn't be able to maintain them there." Rias said while looking at the wall where my notes where pinned, all perforated by my impromptu target practices.

"Yeah. I wouldn't be able to." I confirmed, running a hand over my face. "I'm not considered a very good Magus over there. I'm actually a third rate one."

"With all that power?" She looked at me with horror in her face. "What kind of monsters are first rate Magi then?"

"I don't think you understand. I'm not talking about power." I projected Kanshou in my hand idly. "My ability defies the Laws of the World, but I, by myself, am not powerful. My Fakes are, but I'm not." I dismissed the sword.

"I see." She nodded going back to look at the notes. "But even then, I don't understand how can you be considered third rate, as you say."

I thought about how to explain to the girl, but in the end it came down to one thing. "I still have my morals." I said waving my hand. "Not that all first rate Magi are amoral, mind you, but as a rule of thumb, they have some twisted views on the world. They don't see the rest of the world as a place to live in, but a place where they are _obligated_ to live in. The only thing they care about is reaching Akasha, the Root of the World. And to achieve that, they can come up with some pretty scary ideas of how to do it."

"Really? Like what?" She asked.

Again I thought about pulling a real example, but some of the things that I saw in my time were so horrific and twisted that I don't think she would believe it to be true. "Let's just say that if someone was convinced enough that destroying an entire continent completely, making it completely devoid of all life would be enough to make them reach it, they would do it in a heartbeat."

"That's... ominous. You talk about your fellow Magi as if they are a bane in the face of the world." She said, grimacing.

"Not all of them are bad. There are first rate Magi that I respect I great deal, like Zelretch and Aozaki, the Blue," Though they are both Sorcerers now, not Magi anymore, I added in my head. "or even Rin and some others, but the general rule is that if you see a first rate Magi in the vicinity, be on guard at all times."

"Is that why you are a third rate?" She asked.

"Partly. There's also the fact that I have no lineage. Magi are kind of like you Devils. There are lineages where the research is passed down from father to son in the bloodline. They pass down their Family Crests to their Heirs and the lineage continues. In terms of lineage I count as a first generation Magus. If I have kids and I pass down any techniques, the lineage will be traced down to me. I'm also considered third rate because on top of having no lineage, I don't focus my research on reaching Akasha. All my research, what little of it there is, is directed almost completely to combat purposes."

"Humm... I see." She nodded, then our conversation until went into a lull until she continued. "You know how I said that I would do everything in my power to take care of things for you after you were gone, right?"

I nodded, it was one of the things that made my decision easier.

"I don't know if I'll be able to." I was about to object her again, but she didn't leave me time again to retort. "Sorry, that came out wrong. What I meant to say is that I don't know if the people you took under your wing will want me to."

I grimaced once again. "Yeah. I have been thinking about this. I still can't come with a clear picture of where I made a wrong move." I sighed.

"Shirou, look at everything you did. You are the first ever King with a complete Peerage that isn't a High-Class Devil, or a Devil at all. You are a good part of the reason why I'm not married to a chauvinist of a husband who only wanted me to parade me to the Underworld to show that he had a Gremory for a wife. You are the reason both mine and Sona's Peerages are getting stronger by the day. You managed to make not one, but three Devil Clans bow down to your will without making a formal contract with none of them. You created a Youkai Branch Family out of thin air and one that doesn't even have a single Youkai in it, not even one turned Devil. You managed to defeat a monster that I couldn't, even after being boosted fifteen times by Ise and using all my power."

"I was boosted at the time too." I finally managed to get a word in.

"Yeah, seven times. Less than half of what I was boosted to." She shook her head. "Ise and Kiba look up to you as a mentor. Koneko and Asia look up to you as an older brother. Hell, you have two members of my Peerage that prefer to live with you instead of with their King, Shirou. And you treat all of us as family. There's no higher praise for a Gremory than that, you know?" She sighed heavily.

I didn't know that about the Gremorys. I knew that they treated their Peerages well. According to Shitori there no actual servants on the Gremory territory. All of the employees of the Gremory Clan continue to work for them because they want to, even after receiving better offers from other Clans.

"Not to mention that..." She trailed off, shaking her head again, dismissing the thought that she was beginning. "No. It's not my place to say." Then she chuckled. "Did you know that the Leviathan and Beelzebub both have you blocked for Reincarnation?"

I knitted my brows. "Yeah. Ajuka told me."

She nodded. "So you know that if a Devil try to Reincarnate you, they'll be executed, right? Not that anyone could at the moment. Your feat on the school that day resonated hard on Underworld, you know?" I shook my head. "You are even been slated to appear on Serafall's show."

Total and complete brain lock. "What?" I didn't hear anything about me appearing on a show.

"Not really you, but a character based on you will appear on her show..." She paused looking up. "Next month, I think?" The looked back at me. "Anyway, your character wasn't named last I heard, but he's going to help Miracle Levia-tan defeat a giant Mecha that is terrorizing the city, using only a mystic bow and arrows made on the spot from his power. He'll have a house where he lives with his twenty wives and one sister, and will keep trying to seduce Levia-tan during the whole episode until shit hits the fan and he'll prove that he isn't just a casanova and his wives had a reason to fall for him. The writers were still undecided if Levia-tan would be part of his harem or if she would steal him from them, or if nothing would come out of that."

Lockdown still ongoing. Rias started talking normally but she became more and more heated as she continued explaining the _plot_ of the show. If I didn't know better I would think that she's a fan. Either that, or she is messing with me. If is the latter, then she's succeeding. In the end the only thing that left my mouth again because apparently my vocal cords still remembered what was spouted before and my brain wanted me to say something but couldn't form a coherent thought, so they decided to just simply repeat the last word. "What?"

"Shirou, you are a celebrity on the Underworld." She smiled at me.

"And you know all that... how?" I had to ask.

"Sona told me. Serafall wouldn't stop talking about it." She said with an odd emphasis on her voice. "And since you are such a known name, you were blocked by both Maous. I think Nii-sama will block you too, but he didn't say anything publicly yet."

"Ajuka said that too." I managed to say in the end.

"Yeah. Point is, Shirou. It doesn't matter what were your intentions when you came into our lives, or better saying, when you decided to continue helping us out. You already made a mark on this world, which I know was something that you didn't want to because of the..." She began to fish for the word, making circular motions with her index finger.

"Merger?" I asked.

"Yeah, that. I know that you didn't want to meddle into our affairs too much, but now that you did, there's no turning back." She crossed her arms. "I'm saying this to someone I consider a friend, Shirou. What you taught us during our trainings and during our sessions on Magecraft is something that I'll always have with me, and will be passed down to whatever sons or daughters I have in the future, so the world will have to wait several millennia to undo what you did and start the Merger."

I sighed, sitting back down. "Rias, you don't understand... What am I doing here? Really?" I looked over the open door in the direction of the house. "Just today, I realized that what I did to Akeno, bringing her to live here wasn't exactly helpful to her in the long run."

"What do you mean?"

I closed my eyes once again. "When I did that... At the time I did that, I was still overwhelmed by what I saw on Akeno's Soulscape. Her memories. The foremost thought in my mind was that 'this girl needs to have some happiness in her life'." I debated talking about her memories themselves but didn't want to break my promise to the Shrine Maiden. "I'll not tell anything specific, but..." I sighed heavily once more. "One of the memories I saw... One of the good ones, was about how happy she was in it." I shook my head once again. "I wanted her to feel that way once again."

Talking about the memory of her with her mother when she was small was something that I really wanted to, to explain why did the other memories, of her hard times traveling around the countryside, were so much worse, but I couldn't without Akeno's permission. She has probably already told Rias about it in the past, but I'm not sure, and even if she did, she did ask me to never bring it up again.

"But... What if I'm not doing that? What if I'm actually setting her up to feel even worse once I'm gone. And not just her. Asia, Sophie, Solveiga, Khalilah, Carmela, Julie, Margareth... All the girls at the dorm..." I looked down at my hands. "What if I didn't involve myself further than simply freeing them from Diodora? Wouldn't they be better off then?"

"Shirou..." She sat beside me and put a hand on my shoulder, making me turn to her. "I don't have the answer to that. I'm not used to think about different scenarios as you seem to be able to. I only act when I see something in front of me, and react when something is against me." She gave me a self deprecating smile. "I know that the image we Devils have on the world is that we are schemers, and were always thinking four, five steps ahead, but is not always like this. We have too many things in common, Devils and Humans, than either side really likes to admit." She sighed. "Akeno... She's my Queen, yes, but before that she's my dearest friend, and I have not seen her so... open and happy in... well, ever."

"What?" I asked.

"Since she came to live here with you, she... changed, I think is the right word. She used to maintain everything at arms length. Treating everything with the same zeal someone on her position should. Think of a social worker. Her way to treat everything around her was similar, she treats everything with the respect it deserves, even jokes with us, with me, but I always felt that there was some sort of wall between us." She looked down then at me again. "Ever since you came I could feel this wall start to crumble."

I looked at her again, trying to picture the girl who was crying in my arms this afternoon with the same one she was describing me.

"Shirou..." Rias looked at me with an unreadable expression before sighing and getting up. "Forget about it. Bottom line is she's happy here, alright?" She got to the door. "I've got to go now, but think about what I said, alright?"

I continued sitting there, trying to think about it. My mind is a scramble right now, but it ended up coming back to my situation in this world and what it would happen once I was gone. "She'll feel worse again when I leave." That sentence made my own eyes widen in realization. "Am I being presumptuous?" I asked myself out loud.

Did I really thought that I had that much impact on her life that I'm equating my departure with the death of her mother? The betrayal of her family?

By Zelretch's fake beard. What am I going to do?

* * *

That night I spent way too much time thinking about the situation without coming to a resolution that when I realized I had fallen asleep on the workshop and someone had come during the night and covered me with a blanket. I got flashbacks to the time Sakura used to wake me up when I slept on the shed back in my house during high school. I ended up waking up to the sounds of Karlamine and Xuelan during their morning exercises and went back to the house to do my morning routine.

Later that day, after a somewhat awkward breakfast and even more awkward walk to school, I decided to try and talk about it with someone else. Only problem was that the only people I could really have this type of conversation would be Shitori, but after scouring through the school one more time and not finding anyone of the Student Council for the third day in a row, I was at my wits end.

At the beginning of the year there was barely two digits Devils on the school grounds, but now there was easily the triple of that. I know I'm actually at fault for at least nineteen of those, but the point still stands. There's too many of them, and most of them have the same feeling, so its hard to track down a specific one. I was going in the direction of the Occult Research Clubroom to see if there were anyone there but stopped midway when I saw that Kiba was going to the clearing behind the building. Deciding that enough was enough, I walked in his direction and to my surprise, Ise was there and he was not alone. Quarta was there as well. Both males had come leaps and bounds from the hothead pervert and the chivalrous Knight they were at the beginning of the training I put them all through.

The blunette was trying to drill Ise into doing some of the kata with the bokutou, but anyone could see that he was more interested in the way her breasts bounced at every movement she did. Does that girl not know to use a bra? That catsuit she used before probably negated the need to but now that she was wearing the school uniform, it was high time she started using it. From the way she was frowning it seems like even she didn't realize that was the reason her movements were so stiff.

Sighing, I watched as they all started doing drills with the practice swords, trying to move with synchronicity, but failing miserably. Ise kept being distracted and I could feel that Kiba wasn't into it too. Perhaps the pervert's distracted movements was drawing his attention away from his own exercises. Quarta was the only one who was actually taking the drill seriously, but was obviously having troubles of her own.

I began to circle around them and when I was behind them I yelled. "Ten-hut!"

Immediately both Ise and Kiba stood at attention, but Quarta whirled with her practice sword at me. I ducked down below the slash then batted her wrist up, using her momentum to sweep her support leg and taking the sword away from her while she fell down on her butt.

"Too slow!" I yelled. "Drop down and give me fifty!"

She looked at me dumbfounded, but both the other two immediately did as I told them.

"Are you waiting a written invitation, little girl?" I barked on her face.

She looked at the other two doing the exercise and then back to me, blinking in confusion before going along with it. I walked around the three and collected the other two bokutou, watching them do the push ups. To my surprise, Quarta was the first to finish, followed closely by the other two. They stood at attention in front of me again. The ex-Exorcist must have gone through some similar treatment before, because she wasn't complaining like I expected, or maybe did it unconsciously.

"Why was that drill being performed so sloppily?" I barked out, getting in front of the pervert and glaring down at him. "Ise!"

"Because I was distracted, Sir!" He answered immediately. He already knew what would happen if he tried to bullshit me. I don't think he'll ever forget the hours upon hours of painful-but-good-for-him exercises I put him through. His face was kept into an impassive mask and his eyes fixed in a point in space.

"With what?" I yelled him. "What could be more important than the life of your companions or the mission you were given?"

"Xenovia's oppai, Sir!" He said with a straight face, and I almost commended him for that straightforward answer, alas, this wasn't why I had butted into their training.

The girl in question squeaked a little but didn't actually move. "Down again and give me more twenty five with each arm!"

He immediately started doing just that.

"Kiba!" I barked again.

"Why was that drill being performed so sloppily!" I took the two steps separating us to get him front of him and shouted at his face.

"Because I was distracted, Sir!" Same answer.

"Are you telling me that you also couldn't get the anatomy of your companion from your mind?" I barked, faking disbelief in my tone.

"No, Sir!"

"Then what was more important than protecting your teammates and completing the objective?"

"Nothing, sir! I have no excuse!" He said still looking forward, just behind my left ear.

"Down and give me twenty five with each arm." I shouted and down he went.

"Quarta!" The woman didn't answer so I repeated on her face. "Quarta!"

"I don't recognize your authority!" She answered me and I heard Ise hitch his breath from below. "You're not our King or even a Devil to begin with." She must have done the early push ups only on instinct. I wanted to laugh at that.

"Really?" I asked her in a mock hurt tone. She was right after all. Part of the reason I interrupted their training was because I was frustrated with not having anyone to talk to and the sloppy way they were during their exercise was making things worse. "Let's make a bet then. Come at me." I said, kicking a bokutou at her. She caught it deftly and leveled it at me. "If I win this bout, you'll recognize my authority over this training exercise, won't you?"

"Very well." She entered a typical kendo stance. When I kept looking at her without moving she looked down at the two practice swords at my feet then back at my face.

Deciding to not wait anymore, she stepped forward and probably recalling my earlier disarm on her, chose a diagonal strike aimed at my midsection. I kicked one of the two bokutou on the ground on the handle while angling my body away from her strike, aiming it at her legs again. The hit wasn't something that she should take notice, and she didn't because after the first strike she stepped up again, bringing the practice sword from the same position that it ended her earlier strike, in diagonal strike upwards this time mirroring the first.

I dodged again, this time cartwheeling back, using the movement to grab the second bokutou on the ground, and kicking her hand in the process before kicking the ground the moment my feet touched it again and striking her on the stomach with the tip of the practice sword, before pulling back and hitting on the back of her head when she doubled over.

She held surprisingly well, getting only on a knee and glaring at me. "That wasn't kendo!" She coughed out, while gritting her teeth.

"I never said I would use kendo." I said getting in her face. "First rule of the battlefield. Don't assume anything. It gets you and your comrades killed."

She tried to get up but I knocked her head again, and she glared at me.

"Second rule. If you have an advantage, exploit it." I continued. "Don't let your opponent regain balance."

"Why you-" Instead of getting up this time, she jumped back, but tripped on the first bokutou I had kicked earlier and I was on top of her in a instant with the practice sword again poised to slash her throat.

"Third rule. Know your surroundings at all times." Then I put the tip of the bokutou on her neck. "Yield?"

She looked at me with fire in her eyes tried to force her legs to kick me from her position, but was stopped when I moved the handle to intercept her knee while at the same time pressing harder the tip against her collarbone.

She looked at the practice sword and closed her eyes, sighing. "I yield."

"Now, I know you were trained, but you lack something." I said taking the practice sword from her neck but still maintaining my body over hers. "Do you know why your movements are so stiff? Why are your swings so sloppy?"

"Because I'm a new Devil!" She answered me, rage still clear on her face. "I'm still not used to my body."

I looked at her in disbelief. "Are you stupid?" Is this girl for real? "Your body is the same as you ever had. Your problem are these!" I said pointing to her breasts. "Or better yet, the lack of security around these!"

"What?!" She said in a bewildered tone, her rage changing to confusion.

"I assume that you used to wear that catsuit of yours all the time while training, no?" I asked her, finally giving her space.

"Well... Yes. What about it?" She said, frowning at me.

"They seem to be great. But they are also form-fitting." I told the girl who was beginning to sit up, and looking at me and her breasts in turn. "They are tailored for your body, or are elastic enough to be keep your mammaries from dangling all around like they are right now."

"What?!" She repeated herself.

"Do you want me to spell it out for you, little girl?" I asked lowering myself to look at her in the eye.

"What in the name of the Lord-ouch are you talking about?" She said getting angry again, though it could be the retribution she received.

"Go put on a bra when you're not using that catsuit, that's what I'm saying. Why do you think the pervert" I said pointing to Ise who was finishing his second twenty five set. "couldn't take his eyes off your breasts?"

That was the first time in our short acquaintance that I saw the girl blush, and hold both her arms in front of her in a defensive position as if her chest was bare.

"Go ask Akeno or Rias for one. In the meantime..." I said turning for the other two who were finishing their sets and smiled darkly.

She must have seen something on my face that she wasn't expecting and took off immediately in the direction of the clubroom. I watched her go for a few moments before I sighed and hung my head, shaking it.

"Alright. Ise, you first." I said to the pervert. "With or without swords?"

"Without!" He answered loudly.

In the next half hour I sparred with both of them, alone and simultaneously, with and without swords, or with fists and swords in one case where Kiba was using the bokutou and Ise his fists. It took all that time for the blunette to return. If I didn't know Akeno any better, I would think the girl had gone home to get one. Or buy one. But since the Shrine Maiden was there, I'm sure she would have something for her to wear. I have no idea from where she gets it, but there's always spare clothes in that clubroom.

We were sitting down, just taking a breather. Well, me and Kiba were sitting, Ise was sprawled on the ground. "Seriously, kid. You really need more stamina. What did we talk about during training camp. The more stamina you have, the more you can use that Sacred Gear of yours."

"I know, but I'm doing it better." He said gulping air. "I can Boost up to eighteen times now and Ddraig says that if I continue like this I'll be able to unlock another of his powers faster than he imagined. He agreed to help me as long as he gets to fight Albion at some point."

Humming in understanding, I let it pass the thoughts I had on the subject. A partner wasn't anything wrong to have in any way, but... "Just make sure you don't do anything stupid. You're strong enough already, don't try to rush things and get destroyed yourself in the process." I said remembering what happened with me at the end of the Grail War.

Then froze.

What Grail War had I remembered just then? It wasn't my memory, at least, not one from the me who fought alongside Rin to rescue Saber from Caster. The me who fought against Archer because he wanted to kill me to create a paradox that wouldn't actually happen. The me who made a contract with Rin to be able to fight Gilgamesh.

The end of the Grail War was on the surface, and not underground. And I hadn't fight alongside Rider. I had fight alongside Saber and Rin. But on this memory I was attacking a black version of Saber with Rider as my Servant.

What's going on? I put a hand on my head, trying to stave off the headache.

It was the rush of memories again. And this time it wasn't during a stressful or combat situation. This can't be good. If anything I try to remember can trigger this flood of memories that aren't mine, then I'm liable to lose it at some point.

No. I fought alongside Saber and Rin during the Grail War. I fought Gilgamesh at the end at the Ryuudou Temple. Archer was the one who killed him in the end when he pushed the King of Heroes inside the void the Grail created, when the King was trying to use me as an anchor to pull himself out.

Right. This is my memory. This is the real me.

When I opened my eyes again, I realized that the whole debate inside my head took the same time it did for me to blink once.

"What do you mean, Sempai." He asked.

"I... It's just..." I trailed off, trying to make sense of the memory while explaining to him at the same time would be difficult. "There was a time that I had to face and impossible opponent... There was no way for me to defeat it normally... I had to use a technique that wasn't mine..." No there's two memories incompatible there. One I was with Rider, the other I was alone. "That technique, created swords inside my body, replacing my bones with swords." I blinked once, grimacing, trying to tell the truth while lying at the same time. "I was being skewered from the inside out. If it wasn't for my partners I would never have survived my own attack."

They grimaced at the image I was painting.

"So, if there's something that Ddraig is capable of, but you don't know how to control yet, don't try and use it before you are strong enough to withstand it." I warned him.

He stayed quiet for a time, rolling over my advice in his head. "Did you ever master that technique, Sempai?"

I tilted my head from side to side a few times, before shaking my head. "Not really. I know how to use it, and it's not perfect, but if the need arises to use, I can use it." I said, thinking about how that situation was similar of how I use my other abilities. It's the first line on the Aria for Unlimited Blade Works. _I am the bone of my sword._

"Who are you really, Emiya-san?" Quarta asked. She had been somewhat subdued after returning. Whatever Rias or Akeno had told her, it worked.

"What you mean? And please, call me Shirou." I turned my head to the former Exorcist.

"Who are you, Shirou? How do you know so much? No one our age should have that much experience." She repeated and I chuckled. At her age I did have that much experience.

"People have their secrets, Quarta." I smiled at the girl. "Not everyone should know them all. Heck, there are already too many people who know my secret, but I already trust them with it. Until I can trust you, sorry, but you'll have to keep guessing." Then I got up into a crouch. "But don't worry, what I said before you were turned into a Devil is still valid. As long as you don't do anything against those I care about, and not try to attack innocent people, I don't care what you do."

"Are you going already, Sempai?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah. I still need to find Shitori or Kusaka." These impromptu sparring sessions I had with them were surprisingly good exercise. They are almost to a point where fighting both at the same time would be hard for me. Add in Quarta now, and I don't know if I could actually do it. They have really come a long way in the scant months that I spent here training them. I felt something akin to pride in my chest at the thought. I was actually helping them, and that was good. They were getting stronger day by day.

They would need that to protect their precious people.

* * *

The next few days were a flurry of activity for me and the people at the dorm. Apparently Kuoh Academy would host something big that involved all three of the Christian Factions, but they didn't tell me what exactly because I was unrelated to the issue. In the meantime I spent my days training with Gasper and, after receiving much cajoling from them, I was training with the former Holy Maidens too. They said that even if I didn't want them to fight, something like what happened with Kokabiel could happen at any moment and it would be better for them to be prepared.

I realized then that I wasn't so much as protecting them as coddling them. In the end it was a good idea to let them receive some training as well so I began to train them in tactics and how to better use their numbers and powers. Even if they were under Diodora's influence at the time, they still participated in exhibition Rating Games before, so they weren't completely strangers to combat. Diodora apparently wasn't active in the Rating Games and, in his time, there was no such a thing as the Youth Devils Gathering, which was like a coming of age for Devils, but he had been active with training under other members of the Devil society on the Rating Game. Since my intention wasn't so much train them for Rating games, and more about them defending themselves and others, I decided to include Marion, Mihae, Karlamine, Xuelan in those sessions too. I wanted to include Asia and Akeno as well, but they declined because they already knew what my training entailed. They warned the girls that in two days they would be begging for me to stop torturing them. They weren't completely wrong. Marion and Mihae had almost quit the training exercises on the third day, but everyone soldiered on. Not one of the girls of the dorm made any mention to quit though.

Gasper was another matter entirely. His problem came from his Sacred Gear, the Forbidden Balor View. They said that it basically stopped time to whatever he was looking at, which didn't make much sense to me at first, because if something was stopped in time but the rest of the world continued to spin, then the moment he activated it, whoever was affected would be launched aside because of the rotation speed of the planet, but after examining closer it wasn't so much as stopping time, but in fact freezing the coordinates of everything that he could see in relation to himself, effectively seeming to stop time for whoever or whatever was in the effect range. I discovered that when we experimented with a tipped opaque glass of water. The glass itself would be frozen, but the water inside it would only freeze if he had a clear view of it. Though I couldn't understand why people would still freeze completely. With objects and other things without life, he could lock the coordinates of what he saw, but with people or other things that were alive, he would freeze them completely, even their thoughts. Maybe that was why they thought he was freezing time at first, I mused. There should be more about the ability of his Sacred Gear that I still haven't discovered, but at least his training is coming a long way since the beginning.

Anyway, Gasper's ability aside, his main problem was actually his shyness. And his desire to continuing using women's clothes. That second part in the end kept feeding off the first, and entered a closed loop. The more he used women's clothes, the more at ease he would be at first, until he realized that there was other people looking and would lock up himself and start to tremble because he was the center of attention. I couldn't exactly blame the others. He was way too cute to be using those clothes, and that's saying something. I tried to get him to use man's clothes twice, with mixed results. When he wore the male uniform, he claimed it wasn't cute enough and kept being distracted by it and didn't concentrated on the exercises. At least he didn't clamp up during them and that was a win in my book, but since he was too distracted by the pants he was wearing, it could be a case of him simply not paying attention to his surroundings.

Right now, I'm going to the Student Council Room, because for some odd reason, Shitori called for me using the PA system instead of going to my classroom as it was her usual M.O. when she needed something. Needless to say, people started giving me odd looks immediately after that. I still have no idea what the rumors about me say, but since people give me a wide berth, and don't actually come to talk to me about them, I don't really care. The few tidbits I heard were all bullshit anyway, so it didn't really matter to me. They would think what they would, regardless of what I did or didn't do, so I opted to ignore them completely.

I was just about to knock on the room when I felt the power behind the door. There were two strange signatures, both Devils and both I had felt before. Trying to puzzle out the meaning of their visit would be pointless and, as I far as I knew, they weren't here for me, so I knocked. Seconds later, Nimura opened the door and I saw on the couches, Lord Phenex and Ravel Phenex, facing the other couch where Shitori was sipping tea while they chatted about the Rating Games.

"Good afternoon. You called me?" I said to the bespectacled girl sitting on the couch. The rest of the room continued on a whirlwind of activity, but Shitori seemed completely at ease with the situation.

"Oh, Emiya-san. Good afternoon." She got up and both her guests got up with her. "Yes, I called you here, but it isn't me who actually wants to talk, but Lord Phenex here, or more specifically, Ravel Phenex."

I raised and eyebrow at the President, then looked at the other two figures sitting. "Good afternoon, Lord Phenex. Ravel-chan." I half bowed to them. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

"Lord Emiya. It's good to see that you are in good health." The light blonde haired man nodded his head at me from his position.

"Good afternoon, Lord Emiya." Ravel was much more curt on her response, but I could see that it was not out of impoliteness. It seemed like that was actually the way she acted.

"We'll leave you to talk freely." The President made a signal that even with all the activity, everyone in the room understood and left the room, leaving me alone with Lord Phenex and Ravel. I nodded at her, making way for them to pass and was about to flag Kusaka about her helping me with the spells when Lord Phenex called for my attention first.

"We actually have two subjects to discuss with you, Lord Emiya, but after talking with young Sona," He signaled where Shitori had been sitting with his hand. "we came to the conclusion that our approach would be unbecoming of your status and the zeal you have for your charges, so we decided to change it."

I nodded, moving to sit in front of the pair, and prompting him to continue. No idea what he was talking about yet, but apparently Shitori had made some kind of explanation for them. Lord Phenex seemed as regal as when I first met him, with his hair combed back, and Llofrudd still at his waist, covered with a mantle that flowed from his shoulders.

"You see, Ravel is turning seventeen this year, and since we had those problems before with Riser, after his misdeeds and the discovery that he had close ties with Diodora Astaroth, the Elders of the Clan and myself decided that he should be punished more severely than just losing a few of his Peerage members." He continued talking like it was no big deal, but I could see on Ravel expression that she didn't like the subject matter at all. "The House of Phenex's Tradition says that we must have a line of succession at all times with at least three people in line of for the position of Head of the family, and since I have three sons, we hadn't had problems with it. But with the unfortunate events that happened, Riser has been struck out of the line of succession and Ravel here" He patted the girl in question on the shoulder. "was nominated as the third Heiress of the Phenex Clan."

I honestly didn't know what to make of that, but decided that treading lightly on the subject would be better. "I would offer my congratulations to you, Ravel, but seeing as you received this honor as well as burden under less than savory circumstances, I don't fell like I should."

The girl was impassive, and I had an odd feeling that I was looking at Luviagelita Edelfelt for a moment, instead of her. Their haughty way of crossing their arms and looking aside when they didn't want to talk or were embarrassed were oddly similar. Nonetheless the girl turned to me, and bowed her head. "Thank you for you discretion, Lord Emiya."

"Anyway, therein lies a problem. As a Heiress, Ravel started her Peerage too late, and now most of the Devils her age are already part of other Peerages or are already Kings on their own right." He leaned slightly forward, folding both hands against each other. "And since at least four of the girls under your care were former member of the Phenex Clan, albeit unwillingly, she has had time to get to know them. I'm here to ask you to let them meet and talk, and if they want to or accept Ravel's proposal, to come back to the Phenex Clan under her."

I leaned back on the couch, crossing my right leg over my left, then looked at Ravel. She was wearing a pink, almost lilac, coat over a white skirt and black stockings. She also had some kind of ornament on her back that mimicked the tails of a Phoenix on the legends. Her blonde hair was done in the same way I always saw her, with twin tails that curled at the tips, giving her an aristocratic air from the Victorian Era. "And what you think of this, Ravel?"

"Exactly what Father has said. I need new Peerage members, and the four that live with you are the ones I want." She frowned. "But I see the point both the Sitri Heiress and my Father have made. I can't just want them, they have to want me too."

I smiled at the girl. It seemed that this one could be reasoned with without fireworks starting. At least in the presence of her father. "Humm... I said this before to Lord Phenex, but I only have three condition for any of my charges to get out of my supervision. First, they are the ones who will choose if they want to leave or not, two, they should be free to leave whenever they want without any backlash from the Devil who'll be their King and three, if they are ever to be traded, it is to be with their consent, doesn't matter the value offered for them, and conditions two and three should be applied to their next King as well. The last two, I want it in a contract signed by them and the King with me as a witness and another witness from another, unrelated, Clan."

"The last two aren't a problem." Lord Phenex assured me. "The reason we are here is mostly for the first."

I looked at the ceiling, thinking about the situation. It was great that a King had come to talk with them, and from what I could glean over Ravel, she wasn't a bad kid. A bit spoiled, maybe, but not bad. Problem was, the girls weren't the ones she knew anymore. They had changed over the course of the months they spent with me and here at the Academy. They had new friends and new lives here. "I don't have a problem with letting Ravel meet with the girls," I said and he smiled. "but I think it's fair to warn you that a single meeting wouldn't be enough for you to get reacquainted."

She looked bewildered at me for a moment, before turning to her father, who answered. "And what would you suggest in this situation."

I sighed. "Well, I want to invite you two to my house and explain for them the situation first. After that, if they are willing to talk with you, then you can visit them again at a later date."

"Well," Lord Phenex stroke his chin, while thinking about it. "that actually plays well into the second part of our reason to talk with you today, Lord Emiya."

I raised an eyebrow at the man, signaling for him to continue.

"You see, it came to our attention that you are officially the caretaker of a dormitory for Kuoh Academy."

"That's only partially accurate." I corrected him lifting a hand in a move for him to stop. "The designation of the dorms is indeed Kuoh Academy's Offsite Dormitory, but that was more for the neighbors to not pry into the affairs of the ones living there. It isn't an actual dormitory for the school. It's completely independent from it."

"I see. Well, do you have rooms available?" He asked me again, and I knit my brows. I just explained that it wasn't a normal dormitory.

"Well, yes, but as I said-" He was the one to cut me off this time.

"Then would Ravel be welcomed there as well?" His smile was something almost eager, behind his aristocratic demeanor.

I froze at that. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Ravel will start on Kuoh Academy as a first year next week." He continued, patting the girl's shoulder again. "Unfortunately, we couldn't find a good place for her to live here on short notice, and since, as you said, the best way for her to get reacquainted with the former members of the Phenex Clan would be interaction, it would solve both problems."

I looked at her, who was getting squeamish at the attention, then thought about the proposal. It wouldn't be bad for them to have more interaction than just one off meetings. It would seem like marriage interviews otherwise. It was actually a pretty good idea. "I don't really have any problems with an arrangement like that, but I have to warn you before we start talking about anything else. Everyone on the dorms follow certain rules, and the dorm itself isn't attended by any servants. All the residents pitch in to do the work there, from laundry to cleaning to cooking. Anything that needs to be done inside the dorm is done by the residents, and I only intervene when there are things that they can't solve. We have a whiteboard of sorts that keeps track of who has to do what, and when. The rules are more like guidelines, but they are to be followed at all times as well. There are punishments that can and are issued to anyone who breaks them." Not that I have ever needed to use them. The girls are pretty good at not breaking the rules.

The man began listening to my explanation with a smile on his face, but that began to turn into a frown as the explanation continued. "I see... May I ask you why are things that way, Lord Emiya?"

"At first was because of the circumstances they all came to be in my care, but then I approved of it because it builds character and lets them get more control of their lives, even if its a little bit." I opened my hands, palms up, on my lap. "They are still pretty restricted, unfortunately, but every little bit of it I can give them is better than nothing."

The man continued frowning, thoughtfully, and I continued to hammer my point in.

"Another thing that is a recent development, but that I approve of is that they wanted me to train them to defend themselves." I explained. "I don't know if you received news about the incident a few weeks ago here on the Academy about a Fallen Angel trying to restart the Great War." When he nodded I continued. "The girls were all involved in it for one reason or another, and they wanted me train them to fight back if something like that ever occurred again. So we use the school grounds for training exercises a few days a week." I smiled at them reassuringly. "I'm told that they are quite the grueling sessions for the uninitiated." I saw the girl shiver at my smile. "And since its a dorm exercise, anyone living there is actually obligated to participate."

The frown on Lord Phenex's face turned into a grimace and he was about to shake his head when Ravel surprised me, looking directly into my eyes with what seemed like fire on her own. Knowing that she was a Phenex, it could actually be fire and not an optic illusion. "I'll do it."

"Are you sure, Ravel?" Her father turned to her perplexed. "The situation Lord Emiya is describing isn't something a Phenex Heir should submit herself to."

"A Phenex Heir should be where it would be the most beneficial to her upbringing." She continued without taking her eyes off of me to look at her father. "And what he's describing is something I sorely lack. Freedom to commit my own blunders and to be accountable for said blunders in a somewhat more informal setting than on a Mansion surrounded by servants waiting on my hand and foot."

I had to give it up for the girl. She had determination. Let's see if it survives a week inside the dorm. "Very well. The rest of the rules you can ask the other girls who live there, but there are two other things. One, my house is connected directly to the dorm through a hallway and my door is always open to anyone of the tenants to come and talk with me or the other residents of the main house, and the other is that since you're going to be living there, you'll be under my protection, inside and outside the place. If anything happens or anyone bothers you, don't hesitate to call me." I smiled at her then looked at Lord Phenex again. "Now, let's talk numbers."

And that was how I received my first tenant on the dorm that wouldn't be directly connected to me through an Evil Piece.

* * *

About a week after Ravel came to live with us in the dorm, I receive a letter from Marlianna-san. It was an invitation to go to Kyoto during the Hyakki Yakou Festival. It would be in a few months, and according to the paper attached the presence was compulsory for all the Branch families. I didn't actually know what to make of that. The Emiya family, as it was called now by the Senri Clan, was just me and any of the girls that would still be connected to me at the time of the festival. Rias reminded me that this Branch family had to be one of the most odds ones in the history of the Youkai, since there wasn't actually a single Youkai in it. The head of the family was human, and the other members were all humans that were turned into Devils. There wasn't a single supernatural creature with Youkai blood in it. I didn't give much thought about it, because the festival would be after summer break, and I was sure that by then I wouldn't be here anymore, and the girls would hopefully be with new Kings. Rin couldn't take so much time to find me. It would be almost a year if she didn't come before then.

Anyway, after the initial ruckus that the new tenant created on the first day, things had settled down tentatively on the other side of the hallway, and according to Sophie, Ravel was taking the living arrangements with the seriousness of someone who really wanted to fit in, doing her tasks with a diligence I wasn't expecting of a member of the Phenex Clan. Of course she committed as much mistakes as any first timer, but at least she didn't explode on anyone about how those kind of menial tasks where below her station and things alike. She was quite earnest actually and that made her more endearing in my opinion.

Since she enrolled as a first year on Kuoh, Shitori must have done her below the table dealings to put her on the same class as Nimura and Koneko. That way she could at the same time monitor her, and be on hand if anything happened with the Phenex Heiress. Kuoh Academy had become a hotspot for the Heirs of the Devil Clans, and there had been talks to more Devil Heirs coming to live on Kuoh Town and attend the school, or the attached University. That was something of a sore point to both Shitori and Rias. They had come here to live their lives away from all the politics that being a Devil Heir of one of the Seventy Two Pillars entailed but in the end became even more entangled in them.

Karlamine and Marion had hit it off with Ravel on the same day she started living with us. The latter was the less affected by the tampered Pieces from Riser and the former left of her own free will. To my surprise, as far as I could tell, Ravel hadn't come right off and asked them to be her subordinates. Actually, I was getting the feeling that Ravel had other ulterior motives to be living here on the human world, away from her family. I was almost certain that she was the same as Shitori and Rias in that regard, though in her case, she didn't have a Maou in the family. Xuelan and Mihae had both been more wary of her at first, but since she wasn't acting like the spoiled princess I pictured her as, and I think both the girls imagined her as too, they had been trying to warm it up for her as well, with mixed results.

Ravel had gone to three training sessions so far, but I could already see that she wasn't a pushover. She had been part of her brother's Peerage not only because she was a Phenex or for her power as a Bishop. She actually had some good managerial skills, and could direct people and had good strategies during the mock battle we played. She identified flaws on her defense quickly enough and redirected just enough people to maintain her line of defense while still directing the others who were on the attack, not to mention her powers were not limited to only fire, she actually had a lot of control of the other elements, except for Holy, obviously. I hadn't actually tested her ability to regenerate, because there was no need in a mock battle, but since she was a Phenex, a Heiress of the Clan, I was pretty sure she could, as well. She did hold off Kiba for a good time during the Rating Game, after all.

Why did she blushed when I praised her for all of that, I have no idea though.

I had seen less of Asia and Akeno lately, though. They were out almost every night hunting Strays, doing Contracts or preparing to the upcoming event at the Academy. It was weird, actually, not having both of them around for so long. I had become used to their presences and even when they did disappear before, on Rias' orders, rarely it was both at the same time and never for so many days consecutively. I made sure to always leave something for them to eat when they got home, because even when they stayed late, past the time I would go to bed, they always came home in the end. It was weird but not actually worrying not having them around all the time.

And with all the comings and goings, the one thing good that came out of it was that I finally had the kitchen to myself at night during a weekday. I took over Asia and Akeno's days, and didn't let the other girls take the place. On the first day I was so keen on cooking that I made too much and invited Ravel and some of the girls from the dorm to eat with us on the main house. I regretted almost as soon as the words left my mouth. It became a shouting match on the dorm that was once again solved with their usual way. A round of some random game they thought on the spot. The disappointment from the girls that didn't make it was so great that in the end I told them to make a rotation for next time. Six in the first round, because I had already invited Ravel separately, five in the second and the last five in the end. I regretted again immediately because the shouting match restarted with renewed fervor.

During that dinner, Ravel kept looking at me with disbelieving eyes and back at her food again. I still don't understand that reaction everyone has to my food the first time they eat it. It's just following a recipe. I know I cheat a little on some things, like Reinforcing some of the ingredients or control the time the pot stay on the flame meticulously, but the preparation itself is always done following the recipe. Sometimes it creeps me out, specially when Akeno keeps glaring at the side dishes. Since she is vehement that she isn't using that time to cast Structural Analysis, I can't actually understand her glower at the food whenever she does it.

At the moment, I was in my workshop, trying to cast each of the calculations for the Beacon Spell separately, to try and discern if it was really working or not. Over time my workbench had began to have more and more notes as ideas kept popping into my head and I written them down. I would need free some time to organize them, but I simply couldn't stop doing it, like a compulsion. Every time I started to organize them, I ended up seeing something that I had written down and forgotten, then began to test it out, and before I knew it, I had already forgotten the initial objective to organize the notes in the first place.

This particular calculation, the location of the effect, was the one I was trying to refine to the exact position where my house was supposed to be in my dimension, but since I was using just the position calculation at the moment, without Avalon to direct to the correct dimension, I imagine that there were some pretty lights floating over that property on this world. I had never actually gone there again after coming to live here in this house, to discover who owned that stretch of land. It would be good if it was someone I know, but that didn't seem likely.

Trying to change the location of the spells required that I changed the variables, but that's where I hit the snag. The variables on the formula weren't geolocations, no latitude or longitude. I had to actually translate it into a table of numerations for the sector, area and origin, then adjust them following the guidelines on the teleportation spell that I butchered only to get this part.

But if I was being honest with myself, I'm only doing this because the talk I had with Akeno a few days ago is still on the back of my mind. Am I really hurting them so much just because I want to go home? Am I selfish for doing this?

I don't have an answer for these questions. Since the beginning, my stated goal was to go home. Perhaps I committed the mistake of treating the events in this world as I would do in my world, but there Rin, Sakura and, to a certain extent, Fuji-nee were always there to keep me in check. Here, in this world, I didn't have any of them to tell me when what I was doing was too much.

Thinking about it, nothing I did was wrong, per se, but the situation I fell into now was because I want so much to change my destiny, to not follow Archer's footsteps, that maybe I'm late to realize that since I'm not following anyone, everything is uncharted territory and I need to plan ahead better.

The only conclusion I had come to in the end about the girls was that, while I couldn't do much about Akeno, Asia, Karlamine, Mihae, Xuelan and Marion, because they weren't directly linked to me, they at least already had a fall back option, be it with Rias for the former two or with the Senri Clan for the rest. The girls from the dorm had none of that. Sure, they could sign a contract with the Senri Clan after I was gone, but I think it would feel too much like I didn't do everything in my power to help them.

"Lord Emiya, can I talk with you for a moment?" My concentration was broken when Ravel appeared at the door of the workshop. Rin would scold me for letting so many people just wander inside my workshop unhindered, but I spent so much time without actually using the workshop for more than testing grounds at home, without actually having physical notes, that I grew sloppy in that regard and everyone in the house knew about magic one way or another, so they didn't thought strange when I spent so much time here, or even if they saw my notes, would dismiss immediately because they didn't know the magic system I used, and everything that they could understand was easily acquired in the Tomes back at the school's library.

That was another thing that I discovered recently. There's actually a general separation for schools of Magicians on this world, several of them actually. There's Demonic, Angelic, Black, White, Fairy, Elemental, Spirit, Runic, Transformation and Teleportation Magic. And those are only the major ones, since there are several lesser schools about the manipulation of magical energies, like the Norse Magic, that even though is said to be the first type of magic humans were able to use, and its considered the central faction of Magic, finding a user of it is actually pretty hard. My Magecraft is considered one of those lesser schools so they don't actually bother me about it much.

"Sure. Come on in." I said, turning to her from my position, sitting on the ground in the middle of the Formalcraft circle.

She too noticed the circle and after studying the runes for a moment she tilted her head. "Is that your family crest?"

I looked down at it, then chuckled. I had noticed that Devils in this world used sigils that were designed with their families crests when casting their spells. I would say it was something unnecessary, because they needed to spend mana to create the image of the sigils, but I didn't actually know how to cast the type of magic they used, so I let it be. It could be something necessary to activate the spell, like a foci or an Aria. "No. This is just a mana isolation circle." I explained to girl.

"Mana isolation?" She asked puzzled.

"It stops the ambient Mana from entering it," I waved a hand around as if she could see the void in ambient power around me. "so I can analyze the flow of it better when I cast a mystery inside it."

"Oh, but isn't that counterproductive?" The blonde was still confused. "You are deliberately limiting yourself to only the Mana your body produces, and humans don't produce that much Mana in the first place."

"What you call Mana produced from the body, I actually call it Od." I grinned at her. "My style of Magecraft uses more Od than ambient Mana, so it's actually easier for me to experiment inside here. But don't worry, it's an odd style and, as far as I know, no one else uses." Well, maybe except for Akeno and Rias, but both of them are still learning from me.

"Humm..." She walked inside the room proper and looked at my workbench. I winced from my place on the floor behind her, but the girl didn't actually said anything about the chaos my workplace was in. "I wanted to talk about Mihae, actually. She's being distant from me." Her hands started moving and stacking paper after paper. "I tried to talk with her several times already, but she only smiles politely at me and finds some reason to get away moments later." She paused. "Do you think she hates me?"

I thought back at the black haired girl. She was one of the few that had changed surprisingly little over the course of her stay here. She still had that calm aura about her, and practically radiated kindness from her very core. The first impression I had of her, before I even knew that she was one of the girls that were being controlled, still held true. The way she treated everything around her as a blessing to life and the way she seemed to love doing menial things, like pouring tea for guests or helping me with cleaning and such, spoke of a girl that was hard working and gentle. During our training sessions she would shove it all away and be as hard as steel, like the others, but after it, she was the first to ask if anyone was injured or to apologize for any stray attack that she used with too much force.

Still, she did spend I don't know how much time as Riser's Bishop, being forced to do who knows what. She might remember Ravel, but that didn't mean that she had good impressions of the blonde during her stay with the Phenex Clan, or maybe she just didn't want to be near anyone of the Phenex Clan altogether. "I don't think she actually hates you." I decided to answer in the end. "She might be a little wary, true, but maybe that's because of seeing you makes her remember things that she does not want to remember from the time she was with your brother."

A few moments of silence as the girl kept piling papers on different stacks. "Do you really think so?" Her voice was uncertain of my assessment.

"I'm not actually a counselor, and to be frank, what this dorm does is let them lick each others wounds." I sighed heavily looking down at my hands. "I only provide them with the environment that is safe enough and some advice here and there, but on the whole, I can't actually help them. Some of the issues they went through are not something I could help with." I looked back up at her. "I don't even know if there's something as a therapist for Devils."

"A what?" She finally looked at me, while her hands continued moving. Seriously, what is this girl doing with my notes?

"That already answers my question." I told her smiling ruefully. "Mihae is kind and hardworking. I always picture her as a housewife for some reason. If she had continued to live as a human, I think she would have been happy just to be married to a person she loves." Then I shook my head slowly. "But that's my image of her, the one she's projecting for me. I don't know what image she projects for you, but maybe that's a starting point for you to understand her better and try and get closer to her again. Maybe not to invite her to your Peerage, but as a friend at least."

She shook her head once, then pulled the bench and sat down still with her back to me. "I don't know what to do. She keeps pushing me away, without me actually doing anything. I know that I don't have a right to be frustrated with her, because I felt it how it was to be controlled by that Piece, and in my case it was only for a few days. Her case... their case is much more severe than that."

"Maybe that's where you can start?" I pointed out to her. "You have the advantage of having felt exactly how she did, for as little time as it was, but you did. Maybe not the way your brother treated her on a day to day basis, but during that Rating Game, you felt the compulsion to obey him. You could very well extrapolate from there, couldn't you?"

She pulled her head back, looking at the ceiling, making the curls on her hair fall on her back, before answering. "At the time it was... exhilarating. It felt right. It felt good, it felt like it my life's whole meaning was to live for him." Her head went back down and her hands started moving again. "It was a shock, when you removed the Piece from me. At the exact moment you did it, I didn't feel anything, but when I was alone in that room... It was like a void in my chest, like my body craved for more, for it to be whole again..."

Her voice was completely level as she described the feelings, but I could sense something wrong with the girl, so I got up and took the five steps that separated us, putting a hand on her shoulder. She didn't protest the sudden contact. "And you had for only a few days. Imagine that feeling, extrapolate it for who knows how long... Actually, you maybe know how long it was, right? Then think about what it was like for her. For all of them."

From the point of view I had now, I could finally see what she was actually doing with my notes. What I was supposed to be doing, actually. She was correlating them, organizing them through topics and copying them into another notebook, all the while talking with me. "You're right... If she finally got free from that..." She paused, hunting for the right word. "addiction... Just seeing me, maybe she's fearing that it would be like that again."

Addiction was the right word to describe what she explained before. Then it downed on me what the ex-Holy Maidens must have felt when Ajuka freed them, and maybe that was why they felt so strongly whenever I ordered them to do something. They wanted, maybe unconsciously, to feel that way again. I didn't want to believe that was possible, but maybe it was. The loyalty the King Piece enforced shouldn't be strong enough to overpower their free will, as the Maou explained to me, but it was possible that they unconsciously were trying to fill that void with me as their King.

I need to test that with them at the first opportunity. Remove the Pieces from them and let them, at least inside the dorms, without them for a set period of time to see their reaction. I felt bad because that was the kind of thing a Magus would do, a particular nasty Magus too, but it was for their own good.

"Lord Emiya?" Ravel's sudden startled call broke me out of my thoughts and I realized that I was gripping her shoulder a little too tightly.

"Oh, sorry." I removed my hand from her. "Just thinking about what you said, and comparing it to other cases I might have with the other girls."

"No. It's okay." She smiled up at me, and there was nothing haughty in that smile. Just clear understanding. Is this girl really only sixteen, seventeen? "You really do care for them, don't you?"

"Everyone in this house is everything I have on this world." I walked back to the center of the circle on the floor, tracing a normal kyudo bow and an arrow. "I still have other friends, of course, but they are the chains that keep me here."

The girl's face turned from a understanding smile to frowned confusion. "You talk like if they weren't here you wouldn't be either."

I gave her a crooked smile. "It isn't that far off. Maybe I would still be here, but wouldn't anything more than a living corpse. Friends and family grounds us, keeps us sane. In the first few months I was here in this city, I was nothing more than an automaton, living for the sake of continuing living, waiting to be rescued from my misery." I notched the arrow and fired at the hay stack. The shed wasn't that big, but it did had a good thirty feet from one corner to the other. It wasn't even close to the regulation on a Archery Range, but I made up with trying to strike ridiculously small targets, like the spaces between letters on one of the notes I had done sometime ago.

I repeated the motion, tracing another arrow, notching it and firing it. I wasn't even going through the kata, just mindlessly firing arrow after arrow. During this time, the only things I could hear was the sound of the string, the arrow hitting the target and Ravel's pencil on the paper. "I never saw your type of magic before. Is it Alchemy or Summoning Magic?"

I thought about how to answer her, but nothing came to mind. "I guess you could say it's a type of Summoning, but not quite the same." I answered her, notching another arrow. "It can be a type of Alchemy too, but still not quite there."

"I know that Magicians don't like to talk about their spells, but..." She paused again. "Won't you apprentice someone to teach your spells in the future?"

"Apprentices, huh?" Technically I already had two apprentices, but they were actually training with me more to understand how to manipulate their own innate powers and not to learn what I could teach. Not that I had much to teach anyway. "I don't think I'll ever have one."

Another pause, that I used to fire the arrow and trace another one. "Why's that?"

"Because... I'm not a very good Magus in the first place." I told her bluntly. "I know only the basics of the basics."

I heard a loud slap on the workbench and turned to her. She was sitting up now, looking at me with something in between horror and awe. The hand she used to hit the workbench was still there in the same place where she had hit. "In the reports about the incident with Kokabiel, it was said that it was you who killed him, using a spell so strong that completely destroyed part of the mountain the school is built on. And you're saying that you are weak?"

I chuckled at her. I couldn't actually tell her that I was not strong at all, that my weapons were the strong ones, but that would open a whole new can of worms that it was best to be left untouched. "What I said was that I'm not a very good Magus."

She scrunched up her brows, thinking about what I told earlier. "Isn't that the same thing? If you aren't a good Magician, then you can't be strong."

I dismissed the bow and traced Kanshou and Bakuya in their normal forms, then dismissed and retraced them in their overedge forms, dismissed them and called Durandal, dismissed and called Quarta's Durandal and dismissed. During all that I explained. "I said that I only know the basics of my craft, but I honed it above what anyone else has ever accomplished." I traced the bow again. "I can only do this, but I do it very well."

"Overspecialization?" She asked, sitting down and again turning back to the notebook.

"Pretty much. Not that I don't know other things, like the ones you're copying right now," I said, pointing out to the notebook she had in hand. "But this was the skill I'm specialized in, and continued to sharpen it after it was already sharpened." Then I paused and asked. "By the way, why are you copying my notes?"

She looked up at me, startled, then at the notebook, then back at me and blinked. "I'm sorry. I didn't even realize. I'm sorry for overstepping my boundaries."

I waved it off, dismissing the bow again. "Don't worry, I was just curious. Anything in there you can find pretty easily on any Tome in the school's library." I crossed my arms beside her, leaning my body so my hip would be supported by the workbench. "But you didn't answer my question."

She bit her lip, her face flushed with embarrassment. "I did unconsciously. I was nervous when I came to talk to you and wanted to do something with my hands, then I saw the notes and before I knew it..."

"You're pretty good at multitasking, you know?" I pointed out and her flush grew even stronger. "With all we've been talking here, you still kept your attention enough to organize the anarchy that was my notes, and was even copying them."

"I-I-I..." She began to stammer but didn't actually say anything.

"Okay, maybe when you aren't hit with something unusual, you're good with multitasking," I compromised with her and her head snapped at me, confusion on her eyes even as her face continued to flush with embarrassment. "but that's a good skill to have and it can be trained. I reckon that a King who has as good organizational skills as you seem to have, and has a good grasp on strategy could go a long way in the Rating Games."

She looked at the notebook again, shoulder sagging slightly, and continued to copy the notes onto it. "I still need a Peerage to be able to participate."

"Shitori still hasn't completed hers and she'll participate this years Youth Devil's Gathering." I pointed out. "Rias too hasn't completed hers and will, as well."

"Yes, but both of them started their Peerage's as soon as they were of age to receive their Pieces." She shook her head. "I only received mine a short while ago, and don't have a single Piece yet."

"That's normal, I think. You just said it. You're starting late, doesn't mean you need to rush it. You still have time until you need to complete yours." I patted her head and she squeaked, not expecting the move. "You're a good kid, just give time and try to make as much friends as you can in the meantime. Some of them might become your loyal followers in the future."

She continued to write down on the notebook for some time before speaking again. "Is it okay if I talk with the other girls in the dorm about it too?"

"What you mean?" I removed my hand from her head and crossed my arms again, knitting my brows in confusion.

"I mean, is it okay if I talk with Sophie and the others if they want to become part of my Peerage?" Clarifying her statement, she started stacking the papers back again.

"I thought you were already doing it." I answered her nonplussed. "Sophie, Silvy, Tomoko, Naiara and Carlota seem to like you quite a lot."

"No no no no. I didn't want to overstep with them, so I didn't talk with them about that kind of thing." She waved both her arms in front of her face. "They are part of your Peerage, after all, so I first wanted to talk with you if you didn't mind. I only talked with them about normal things, nothing about Peerage and the politics of the Devils."

"Hummm..." I nodded at that. "Well, maybe that's the way you should continue with the others too." When she looked at me bewildered I elaborated. "Make friends first, then talk with them about Peerages. If you are good enough friends with them, you'll know if they are open to that suggestion in the first place or not. And about them been part of my Peerage... I don't really like to call it that. I'm not a Devil and will never participate on a Rating Game as a King with them. They are with me because it was the only way to make sure they had some sort of freedom, after the years they spent..." I cut myself off, then corrected my sentence. "After their former masters were less than kind with them."

"And you would give them up, just like that?" Disapproval was clear on her tone while looking back at me.

"That's because they are not mine to, as you say, 'give them up'." Trying to explain this to a Devil, a pureblood one at that, was hard. "They are linked to me, yes, but they are their own selves. They decide their destiny. I will not force any of them to continue to be with me if they want to be with someone else. I like them to think of our arrangement more akin to a family than to a Peerage. One integrant of a family can't decide the future of the other. They can guide and offer choices, and also protect them against bad choices, but in the end they decide who and what they want to do on their own."

"That's... That's what you said with when we were discussing my living arrangements here." Recalling the earlier conversation she sat back down on the bench, pensive.

"Exactly. All I can actually do for them in that regard is offer opportunities, but I always made clear for them, they are just that. Opportunities, they aren't compelled to take them." Patting her head again, I smiled down at the girl. "You now is part of that sentiment as well, Ravel. What this place offers is a safe haven for opportunities for all that live here."

She blushed at the contact again, finishing with the papers and stacking them neatly in a corner and putting the closed notebook beside them. "You're too trusting, Lord Emiya. Aren't worried that I might take advantage of your kindness and steal, as you said, your family from you?"

I closed a fist over my mouth and chuckled. "I like to think I'm a good judge of character, Ravel. You aren't, pardon the term, a home wrecker. You have more integrity than that." Then I patted her head one more time. "And, as I said, you're one of my charges now as well."

She stayed some time with my hand still on her head while thinking about it, before ducking down when I removed it. "Thank you, Lord Emiya." Getting up, she started to the door and didn't turned back when she said. "For the advices and for listening to me."

"Anytime." A smile crept on my face, even if she couldn't see. "And as I said before, you can call me Shirou."

"Have a good night." And out she went without waiting for my reply.

I kept looking at the open door for another moment, before shaking my head, bemused. Looking at my suddenly organized workbench, I felt almost painfully aware how sloppy I was treating something that should be my lifeline. I didn't have the heart to mess with it at the moment so I went back inside the circle and sat down, trying to meditate a little. It has been a long time since I tried to do this, usually I simply used the exercise the Kyudo kata brought me to reach a state where I could somehow clear my mind, but right now I didn't feel like it anymore.

Looking at the arrows on the hay stack, I began to remember things that happened at home, like the first time I set up a micro archery range inside the workshop, and Rin had a fit because every arrow I fired passed way too close to her notes, making her already messy stacks of papers fly all over the place. I admit that this was partly because I found it amusing how she would get angry every single time and it was one of the things that would actually make her stop doing whatever she was doing to listen to either me or Sakura.

Sakura also used the little range, but she always moved the papers away from the table or tried to fire her arrows from another point not so close to the workbench, even if the distance was even shorter that way. Chuckling, I remembered the first time I actually tried one of the bows on my Marble using the range. It took me three hours to close the hole on the wall and a lot of interference run by the lilac haired girl on Fuji-nee who wanted to know what the explosion was all about.

Thinking about Sakura, made me remember Rider and that strange memory I had. Rider had never been my Servant, and she had actually died pretty early during the War, but either Shinji was really that weak, even more than me, that the Servant couldn't use her full power, or she was holding a lot back. Maybe Shinji had used a Command Seal to get her cooperation and she died early because she didn't want him as her Master and decided it was better to just give up on the Grail altogether. I say that because in this memory, Rider was going toe to toe with a black version of Saber who was not holding anything back, even going against a dark version of Excalibur itself didn't faze the Servant of the Mount. The memory was fragmented and I couldn't actually piece together the meaning of it, but since I was seeing all of this, and I was attacking Saber as well, I could only surmise that Rider was my Servant in that particular instance of the Grail War.

The sense of trust I remember feeling on the Servant was the same I felt when fighting alongside both Rin and Saber, like I could trust her with my life and everything would be okay with her at my back. Her Noble Phantasm was incredible, completely different than anything I had seen since, because it wasn't actually a weapon or tied to a weapon. It was a bridle and whip that were fastened to her Pegasus and removed the limiters from her Phantasmal Mount, allowing it charge at the speed of sound, using its Divine properties in order to resemble a comet of energies that couldn't be stopped.

I was sitting for I don't know how long, but out of nowhere I felt a pair of arms around my shoulders and torso and a warm body on my back. Inwardly I admonished myself. I had spent so much time with Devils around me that I automatically tuned out their presences nowadays, even more when at home. That couldn't be good, as there was several Devils that were probably not really happy with me right now.

"You weren't inside when we came home, so I came to get you. Marion says that dinner's ready." I heard the Shrine Maiden's voice behind me. Another thing I noticed lately was how Akeno had become more... clingy... with me, after our conversation on the rooftop of the school. She isn't shy to hug me out of nowhere, or be in close contact with me too, generally when we were alone. I don't actually mind the contact, though. Her scent, both physical and mystical, has a way of making me feel welcomed.

I hummed in assent, but since she didn't move, I didn't either. "How were things outside today?"

"Terrible." The way her voice cracked with amusement told me that it was actually the contrary. "We had to receive all the emissaries from the Three Factions that will participate on the conference and hammer details with them about the location and other particulars. And when I say we, I mean Rias and Kaichou." She nuzzled her head on top of mine. "You should see how Rias is right now. She looks more like a walking corpse than anything else."

"Heeh..." Chuckling, I leaned my body back on her chest. "At the end of this conference she'll be on her last legs."

Akeno chuckled as well. "Yeah, both her and Kaichou."

After giggling softly, we continued there in silence for some time. She had come here ostensibly to call me to dinner, but either she didn't want to leave or she had something else to talk with me, so I stayed quiet too. My conversation with Ravel came to mind, as did the memories of Rider again. I hadn't confided in anyone about these memories yet, and I didn't want to tell Akeno about them too. I still couldn't make sense of them, and didn't want to burden her with something that I didn't understand. Why were all these memories coming to me now? What was different from before? It wasn't just during my sleep or during combat anymore, because it happened when I was talking with Kiba, Ise and Quarta. Those memories came out of nowhere.

There has to be some kind of trigger for me to remember them. Maybe it was connected with experiment, but it could be connected to the Beacon Spell as well. Or maybe because I'm an anomaly in this world, and am pulling the memories from others versions of me. Maybe because of the ambient Prana. There were so many possibilities that it was daunting to try and think about it, specially when I didn't want to actually recall anything anymore, in fear of losing myself on the memories, like I almost did that day.

"What you're thinking?" I must have tensed, because her concerned voice brought me out of my reverie.

"How peaceful this feels." I lied. She was behind me right now. She, somehow, was learning to tell when I was lying just by looking at my face. As much as I knew about her, she was making her life's objective to know as much about me as she could, it seemed. She could tell immediately when I was distressed by something, or nervous, or happy. I don't know if it's because of her heritage or the way her life played out when she was young, but the brunette had more empathy than everyone I knew in this world, even if she hid better. But then Rias' words came back to me. Was she really only like this with me? Wasn't she this open with Rias?

She hummed, putting her head on my shoulder, turning her face to the crook of my neck. "I know. I like to be like this." She breathed once in that position, then continued. "But you got all stiff there..." Then she realized that her own double entendre and corrected herself. "You tensed your body for a moment. What happened?"

"Some things I don't want to share just yet." Relenting that much was okay, I think. "I want to try and solve by myself for now."

"If you say so..." Her answer was tinged with a little hurt, so I hurriedly reassured her.

"It's not that I don't trust you, just that I don't know myself what it is, so I don't want to burden others with things I can't explain." Then I patted her hand that as on my chest. "Specially someone who was spending so much time outside that she's been coming home late every night." I said, inserting some mirth in my voice.

Huffing on my shoulder one more time, she moved from her position and got up. "Come. Otherwise Marion will send someone else to get both of us."

I chuckled. Yeah. That was possible.

I got up as well and went back to the house, leaving these thoughts for another time. Maybe Rin or Zelretch would be able to make sense of it once I got in contact with them.

Problem was I didn't know when that would be.


	9. An Unwilling Game

A/N: Don't own anything

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

 **An Unwilling Game  
**

* * *

The real end of the Great War. That was the purpose of the Peace Conference, according to Rias and Shitori. Kuoh Academy had received a major addition to its infrastructure, carefully hidden from the rest of the public with Boundary Fields, just for this conference. When the days of the conference were to be held, the school would be closed under the excuse of renovations because the earthquake last month still left some structural damage. They blamed the damage Caladbolg had done to the school and surrounding area on a earthquake and got away with it. I don't know how, seeing as the fireworks were pretty amazing that day, even if at the time I hadn't payed any attention to it, I knew that it couldn't be that no one in the city didn't notice the massive pillar of raw prana the Fake Spiral Sword created.

Since there would be no school, I was thinking of taking that time to experiment with the girls, removing their Pieces from some of them and letting them spend their time without them inside the dorm, but had to shelve that idea again when out of nowhere a magical girl appeared on my doorstep. Well, at least this time Levia-tan didn't just charged inside the house without heed. Also of notice was that the woman, as soon as she entered the house, used some kind of spell to change her clothes to something more formal. A business suit, tailored exactly for her proportions, dark blue with white faded vertical stripes.

It was also the first time I had seen her serious for more than a minute. I had seen the Maou three times in the past. The first was when she introduced herself to me in the rooftop of the school, the second when she was fawning over Shitori on the Student Council Room and the third when she had come to my home to finish the talk she started on the rooftop, but was sidetracked by Karlamine. Right now, though, she wasn't being distracted by anything. Not even the fact that Karlamine was sweating bullets on the corner she had knelt down and hadn't moved ever since the Maou entered the premises. Apparently having confused her with a crazy cosplayer before, she was ashamed for her actions with the woman.

Levia-tan was sitting on the couch across from me, and aside Karlamine on the corner, there were four more people in the room. Akeno sitting beside me, Mihae on the floor beside the table where she knelt to serve the tea, Xuelan behind the couch I was sitting and Ravel on the one seater behind Mihae. "So, to what do we owe the pleasure, Levia-tan?"

"Emiya-san. I had several questions about you some time ago, but those question have been answered by your actions, rather than your words, so I'll refrain from making them." The woman began, both hands folded on her lap and her back straight, while her twiltailed hair pooled on either side of her. "But there are some worrying things I need to make clear with you nonetheless. First, what is your objective? You appeared out of nowhere in this city and ever since then several incidents occurred with you as a central part of it, or as a participant."

"I would say that my participation was more reactionary than active, but go on." I added to her, while taking a sip of the tea.

"Nevertheless, you're the one who found about the flaws on the Evil Piece System," I could feel four of the girls tensing at that. "was the one who killed a Fallen Angel who was alive even before the Great War, trained my sister's Peerage to a level that hadn't been seen on Peerage's that are regulars on the Rating Games for decades, trained the Lucifer's Sister Peerage to be able to overcome a more experienced Peerage during another Rating Game, created a direct line between one Devil Clan with a Youkai Clan, something that hasn't been done in centuries, and even received special permission to have your own Peerage despite the fact that you are not a High-Class Devil, or a Devil at all." She leaned a little forward. "Even with all of that, your objectives continue to be unclear as to what they are. If you wanted contact with High-Class Devils to form a Pact, you had plenty of opportunities. You already stated that you don't have any desire to be part of a Peerage yourself, even with several Clans already having offered you more than they actually could."

"Wait." I stopped her there. "I don't remember receiving any offers aside from Lord Phenex and Rias Gremory. You're right that I wouldn't have accepted anyway, but I would like to make that clear."

The woman tilted her head, for the first time losing the business-like face she held the entire time so far, to look at me with confusion before understanding dawned on her and she nodded. "Of course. That was the reason for the block on the first place. My intention during my last visit was to inform you those offers." She then bowed to me. "I apologize for my irresponsibility at the time."

I waved it off. It didn't hurt in the end, and actually saved me quite a bit of trouble if what she's saying is true. Having to deal with so many offers would be a pain.

She coughed on her hand. "Continuing my earlier point. Even with your display of prowess in combat, you already stated that you have no intention of being part of a Peerage. With that in mind, we, the four Maous, would like to know your real objectives, Emiya-san."

I closed my eyes, craning my head back. I could tell her my objective, but would it actually help? Or would the information leak and create even more problems for me and the girls? "My objective... huh..." Opening my eyes and looking back at her I answered. "Right now, my objective is making sure my charges are seen to once I leave this world."

She looked at Akeno at my side and I don't know what face the girl made because my eyes never left the Maou's face. She then looked at each of the other girls in the room, before looking back at me. "You do know that someone will try to Reincarnate you, right?" She said in the end.

"From the information I have at the moment," I didn't correct her assumption. It was better if she thought that I was dying. "no one short of a Maou would be able to, and since I doubt the Maous would want someone who has already stated that he doesn't want to be a Devil in their Peerages, I don't think I have to worry about that, don't you think?"

For the first time since she sat, she slouched a little before regaining her composure. "Still, that doesn't answer why do you have the charges in the first place. You could simply lived away from here anywhere else, but you deliberately sought out the Devils. Why?"

"I didn't sought out the Devils. If I remember correctly, I saved Akeno here" I pointed to the brunette beside me. "from a pervert. At least that's what I thought I was doing, instead of ruining a sting operation from Rias, but from there it was either receive help from her or continuing living on the streets or jail. Between one or the other, I assume you understand that there was no actual choice there. From that point onwards it snowballed into a series of incidents that led to where we are right now."

"Snowballed?" She asked, scrunching her brows in confusion. It had been so much time that no one had done that, that I had honestly forgotten that some Devils didn't understand what I was saying sometimes when I used idioms and metaphors.

"One incident led to another that led into another that led into another. A snowball rolling down a mountain." I explained and her eyes lit up with understanding, the same way they were normally, not the stoic facade that she was using right now. It was just for a instant, but it made me feel more assured that she wasn't like this all the time.

"I see." She schooled her features back into the mask. "But from what I have been told you have some... strange rumors... going around school. I would like to know more about them."

"About them, I'm sorry to say that I have no idea what they are." She tilted her head to the side again.

"You don't know about the rumors?" She asked.

"No. I know they exist, and they paint me in a unsavory light, but aside from that I don't know their contents." I explained. "As I said, I only care if they affect my tenants and friends. If not, they don't interest me."

"Even the ones about how you forced-" She was cut off by the door bell ringing.

Even before the bell stopped ringing, I knew who it was. "I'm sorry, but I need to talk with the person personally. Would you mind waiting a moment?"

"Were you expecting a visit from other guests?" She asked puzzled.

"No. It's another unannounced visit." I said, maintaining a cordial tone to her. She flinched minutely anyway. "I'll be right back."

"Yes. Of course."

I got up, and for some reason, Karlamine came with me. I didn't give it much thought, but in retrospect, I should have, seeing as who was at the gate. "Good afternoon, Sakura-san." I bowed to the woman and only then realized that she was accompanied by an older man wearing a dark suit, over a white shirt and an also dark tie, similar to the ribbons we have to use on the school uniform. He had some gray hairs on his head and on his goatee, but seemed amiable enough. His mystical signature was so similar to Sakura-san's that I didn't even recognize. "Good afternoon, sir. I don't believe we were introduced."

Sakura-san was wearing a pinkish, almost white yukata this time, but still had her paper parasol over her head. "Good afternoon, Emiya-san." She bowed back and then signaled to the man beside her. "I would like to introduce my father, Tohsaka Tokiomi."

"Good afternoon, Tohsaka-san. I hope you don't mind me calling you by your first name, since it would be confusing otherwise." I offered my hand for him to shake.

"Good afternoon, Emiya-san. No, I don't mind at all." He told me jovially, while returning the gesture and shaking my hand. "We came in order to have a talk with you, if you wouldn't mind."

"I don't actually mind, but Tohsaka-san," I realized my blunder immediately and corrected. "I mean, Tohsaka Rin-san already came a few days ago and we determined that she was wrong on her assumptions."

"Oh, that's good to hear that she already came, but her visit is unrelated to the subject that we came here for." Then he stroked his chin looking distant for a moment. "Well, not completely unrelated..."

Again I was witness to Sakura's prowess in chastising her family members without actually making apparent that she was doing. The pinch on the side of the older man was fast and painful apparently. "Don't worry about it, Emiya-san."

Acting like I didn't see the movement, and wasn't seeing Tokiomi-san rubbing his side, I addressed the woman. "I'm sorry to say this, Sakura-san, but I already have guests waiting for me at the moment." Then I addressed them both. "If its urgent, I can give you my number and we can arrange another meeting?"

"I see." The man grimaced. "I'm sorry, but would your business take too much time? I don't want to hurry you, but its just that I won't be in the country for some time and I would like to resolve the issue before I leave."

It was my time to grimace. "I don't know how much time it'll take, but if you could wait." I turned to the former Knight. "Karlamine, if you could accompany them to my workshop and keep them company?"

"Of course, Shirou-dono." The answer was as prompt as I expected of her, but apparently too eager for the two guests, who blinked in surprise. Now I understand why Karlamine came with me. It wasn't to accompany me, but to get away from Levia-tan. I chuckled at that realization.

"Come on in, then." I signaled for the guests. "Please accompany Karlamine and I'll see that some refreshments are sent to you."

"Thank you, Emiya-san." Sakura-san said, and was echoed by her father.

I watched them turn the corner of the house, before getting back inside. The room was tense, and apparently no one who had remained inside talked much during the time I was out. "Sorry about that." I said to the Maou, then turned to Mihae. "Do you mind serving some tea and snacks for the guests on the workshop?"

The girl nodded, seeming almost relieved. "Of course, Shirou-san." She got up from her position and went to the kitchen.

Levia-tan began again, as soon as I sat down in front of her. "I see that you do have acquaintances that are not related to Devils in one form or another." She seemed on edge. "Are they fellow practitioners of your brand of magic?"

There's no way that this woman wouldn't have noticed their magic signatures. As far as I knew, they weren't Magicians, but I couldn't be sure. "No. My acquaintance with them stem from my stalker."

That threw her for a loop. "Your... stalker...?"

"Yeah. Long story short she's a relative of someone who looks like an older version of me and she thought that we were related because of that." I supplied.

"I see." She nodded. "Well, continuing from before. I would like to talk with you in private, if at all possible."

I looked at her and noticed the way she was narrowing her eyes minutely, before nodding. "Akeno, Ravel, Xuelan. Can you guys give us some privacy?"

Akeno looked at me worriedly, and I smiled at her to reassure the girl, before turning to Ravel who was looking at me wide eyed and then at Xuelan who simply nodded. When they were all out of the room, the woman in front of me continued. "It's about the man you fought on the rooftop of the school."

The Hero Faction. "Yeah. That was a gruesome affair."

"Yes. We have identified that man." She pulled a picture from her breast pocket. How in the name of the Root of the world there was anything on the pockets of that suit? I saw her changing clothes right in front of me, for crying out loud. She put the picture on the center table, turning it to me. "His real name was Heraclius Stephanidis, but he was known as Heracles, core member of the Hero Faction of the Khaos Brigade."

"Hummm... So I assume that you know everything about these guys?" I asked the woman, but she shook her head.

"We know the existence of the Khaos Brigade, but not details. Actually, we only know about Heracles" She waved her hand at the picture. "because he isn't the inconspicuous type. We know that there are at least four other core members under the leader of the Hero Faction, but we don't know anything else about them aside form their names and that they have some vendetta against the supernatural world."

I scooted back on the couch. "Hummm... That much I could glean over during their invitation. Are the other members Cao Cao, Siegfried, Jeanne and Georg?"

She looked stunned for a moment then narrowed her eyes at me. "Did they all came to talk to you?"

"More or less." I answered her. As far as she was concerned that was the only time I had a run in with the Hero Faction.

"That's..." She paused then exhaled. "Not good. They aren't known to take a no for an answer."

"Yeah. The brute there tried to explode me." I said pointing to the picture. "But they have been oddly quiet about me, even after I killed him."

She nodded at that. "Yeah. That's really not good. They are only part of the Khaos Brigade, so if they ally themselves with the Old Satan Faction, it could be troublesome. Intelligence says that isn't probable since their goals are completely different, but we can't be sure of anything about them. They seem to have infiltrated even the higher echelons of the Grigori and the Devils."

Grimacing at the implications, I understood why she asked the girls to leave the room. I trust them, but she still doesn't. "I see..."

"With the Peace Conference and the treaty that it'll be signed, even with all the security, we've been hearing whispers that the site will be attacked, but we don't actually know anything." She continued. "This Conference has to be a success, but with this fourth player, it can make everything turn problematic."

"Yeah, I can imagine that." I agreed with the woman.

"So, we would like to hire you." Her whole presence changed and she smiled brightly saying that.

I froze though. "Wait... What?" The mood changed way too fast. Is this woman bipolar or something?

"Only one of the leaders of each Faction will be present during the Conference. Michael, for the Angels, Sirzechs, for the Devils and Azazel, for the Fallen." She continued to explain. "Since you're unrelated to any of the factions, and has demonstrated to be able to handle yourself quite well in combat, it was agreed to hire you as additional security."

I looked dumbfounded at her smile for a full minute, without moving, either me or her. "By Zelretch's fake beard. You're serious."

"Quite. All the three parties agreed to this and you'll be handsomely paid for your presence." She continued to smile and I was still off balance by that. I had no real dealings with Heaven, so who would recommend me for them? And the Fallen? The only five Fallen I met, I killed them. "The total would be... this." She pulled a notepad from another pocket and jotted down a number.

I looked at the number and my eyebrows hit my hairline. It was more than I received for saving both Nirliana and Lirniana. Heck, it was more than what the Astaroth Clan would give in five years total. Then she dropped the final bomb.

"Ah, that's in dollars, just so you know, not in yen." My head exploded. Scratch what I said about the earnings. In dollars this was more than I have received in Bounties combined in the last five years of my life.

"Are you people insane?" It came out of my mouth without me actually realizing.

"No..." Then she paused. "Well, maybe there are some, but not in this case, no."

I looked at her incredulously, then back at the sum, blinked then back at her. That couldn't be right. But... Money, doesn't matter the quantity, wasn't even the issue here. Even with all that, I wasn't going to use it for anything aside from keeping it in the bank with the rest of the earnings, and when I was gone, it wouldn't go to anyone. I hadn't written a Will yet, not even in my world, come to think of it, but at the rate I was going I would have to.

I sighed, putting my head down on my hands when realization struck. I could put the girls on the dorm in a Will for that. It would help them if I disappeared out of thin air someday. I still have no idea how Rin will proceed with the rescue. I'm banking on her coming and talking with me first, not simply pulling me from this universe without saying anything. With this much money, they would be set for a long time, even if the Astaroth and Senri Clans stopped giving them aid.

After a few moments I finally relented but with one condition. "I'll not sign any contract about this."

"Your aversion for contracts is well known, but in this case, will be a simple job contract, not a Pact or a Devil contract, so you don't need to be worried." She said then dropped the smile. "Still, I need an answer immediately."

I sat back and thought about it again. It wasn't a bad idea. As she said, if the conference was a success, then this world would probably move on from the Cold War that it is at the moment, and I could rest more at ease when I left. The girls would be set for quite some time as well, not to mention that if I was on hand, I could deal immediately with anything that could happen, instead of running there as I did with the Kokabiel case.

"Alright. I'll do it, but I want a copy of the contract."

"Of course." She laughed as she produced a contract form. Seriously, from where is she pulling all these papers? "Here, take a look."

After going over the entirety of the fine print and smelling it closely to make sure there was no Prana on the paper, I went over it again, twice. It was just like a bodyguarding job, with a set date to start and end. No extensions were possible, no extra work was necessary. It really was a normal contract. I sighed, went to my room and signed with my own pen, before returning to her. "Here."

She looked over the signature and gave a copy of the contract. "Good, now that our business is concluded..." A burst of Prana later and her clothes turned back to the magical girl costume and she smiled impishly at me. "Where is my Magic Knight?" She said, floating a few inches off the ground.

"Hey. Don't do that!" I admonished the woman. "I have unaware guests in the perimeter. Please, come some other time to talk with Karlamine. Right now she's attending the guests."

The woman pouted. "But I won't be able to come back until after the conference."

"Then I feel sorry for you, but I can't let my guests see you floating around like a ghost wearing that." I continued.

"I'm not a ghost!" She said, putting both hands on her sides, making interesting things happen to her upper anatomy, while yelling at me. "I'm a hundred percent magical girl!" She then twirled her wand and posed. "Miracle Levia-tan!"

I didn't even try to acknowledge the woman. "If that was all, then I really need to attend to them." She turned around, miffed but relented and walked out of the door and to the gate.

"Bye, then, Shirou-chan!" She turned and jumped out to the street, running down the slope with both arms outstretched. I could only shake my head smiling at the antics. When I turned back to the house, however the smile dropped from my face. Tokiomi-san was looking at me with a frown from the corner of the house. Great, how do I explain that I had to leave them unattended because I was talking with a cosplayer. Well, maybe I could pass it off as another prospect for the dorm, if nothing else.

"I'm sorry for the delay, Tokiomi-san." I waved to the man, before getting close. "If you could accompany me..." I began but had to stop the moment my workshop came into view to realize that the frown on the man's face wasn't because of Levia-tan.

The scene was something that I couldn't actually understand. Sakura-san had a smile plastered on her face, walking up and down a line of my tenants, who were on their knees on the ground in front of the workshop, lecturing them about something. In order was Xuelan, Sophie, Akeno, Asia, who I didn't even realized had come home, Mihae, Julie, Ravel, Giselle and Karlamine on the other end. All the girls were shivering but it couldn't be the cold, because the day was quite warm. Well, all except for Akeno who was taking notes, which gave me some idea of what the lecture was about.

I turned to Tokiomi-san, who still had a frown on his face, but was more of a resigned look than anything else. I raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "I'm not even gonna ask." I said to him.

"I'll thank you for that, Emiya-san. Sakura can be a bit..." He trailed off, and I really didn't want to know what the end of that particular sentence was.

"Well," I raised my voice. "Sakura-san, care to accompany us?"

"Ah, Emiya-san, of course." The girls all relaxed, except for Akeno who looked downhearted. Seriously, what was Sakura-san talking there?

I was about to ask one of the girls to accompany us, but from the way they were subtly clinging to each other, I decided against it. "Well, if you two could accompany me."

When they were both sitting on the couch, I went to the kitchen to prepare tea, but was beaten to it by Marion, who was already coming back with a tray. I hadn't even seen the Maid today, so I was quite surprised when she appeared. "Oh, hello, Marion."

"Hello, Shirou-sama." The woman bowed with the tray in hand and navigated beside me before she went to the table on the living room and served the tea to the guests and for me.

"Thank you." I said as I sat down and turned to the guests. Marion took position behind me while the guests took sips of the tea.

"Emiya-san," Tokiomi started after putting down his cup. "I'll be the most direct I can. I'm here to talk about my son, Sakura's husband, and your relation to him."

"My relation with him?" I parroted, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, as you can imagine, your appearance is somewhat similar to him." He continued. "I didn't believe my daughters when they told me, but after seeing you today I have to agree with them. The similarities are striking."

I winced internally. We are the same person from different worlds. Unless one of us suffered a disfiguration of some kind, the chances of we looking the same were quite high. "And?"

"I told you that my husband was adopted into the family when he was a baby, right?" Sakura-san continued. "Well, since we don't actually know about his family, we were wondering if you were maybe a blood relative..."

"We would like for him to know his roots, you see?" The goateed man picked up. "If he has living family, it would be in his best interest to know about them, wouldn't you agree?"

I sighed heavily, trying to juxtapose my feelings on the matter with his. In my case, even if I wouldn't ever abandon the name Emiya, it would be interesting to know that I had still living family, but then I had to sigh again. There was no way that would be true on this dimension, after all, I was not from here. "I agree with you, but I can assure you that I'm not a relative of his. I'm not even from this country. Our meeting was just a series of coincidences."

The man grimaced. "What makes you feel so sure that you can't be related to him?"

In a way, I was related to him, but not by blood. "As I said, I wasn't born in this country. I lived here my entire life, but not even near this city. I'm sorry, but it's impossible."

"Maybe his parents went overseas then and you were born-" Sakura began to speculate but I cut her off, quite rudely.

"I don't have a family, Sakura-san." Then looked at Marion behind me. "At least, not a blood related one." The woman was stoically making her best impression of a planter but I could see a small curve of her lips. "The chances of him and me being related are non-existent."

"Please, could you at least set our mind at ease." Tokiomi again. "I apologize in advance, but we had someone trying to find your family tree but couldn't get any information on the public databases."

My jaw clenched and I narrowed my eyes at the goateed man. "What?"

He looked taken aback for a moment with my reaction. He looked at Sakura-san then back at me. "As I said, we hired a detective to try and find your family tree, but, as you said, the first register we have of you is from the moment you stepped back into the country. We couldn't even find out from where you came from, which made us suspicious, one of the reasons we took so much time to come talk to you, but I assure you that we didn't want to invade your privacy and that's why everything was done above board." He fished a envelope from his coat pocket. "Here, everything that was gathered by the detective is in there."

I eyed the man with narrowed eyes and took the envelope, ripping it and going over the documents. Apparently in the public databases and everywhere they could look, I had my identity stolen at some point and was re-registered using a special act by the government to register people in such situations, which opens another can of worms. Is this how Rias managed to create my identity? Did such thing as a special act even existed? How can they simple create someone out of thin air like that? At the time I remember thinking that she was a Yakuza Princess or something similar, but now that I know that she's a Devil... Did the Devils had people in such high positions inside human society? If they did, did the other factions had them as well? I shook my head in the end. "I see."

The woman looked antsy from me to her father then back, before nodding to herself. "We would like to make a DNA test, with your permission." Sakura-san told me bluntly. "If you two are really not related, then it would be simple to answer with this, right?"

I was about to reject them immediately, but then had to think about it again. I may be a crappy Magus, but I'm still a Magus at heart, and curiosity was one of the things that drove Thaumaturgy forward. I had an opportunity to discover if there was difference in DNA sequences between two selves on different universes. Had Rin or Zelretch ever thought about that? Had they even considered try on themselves? Did the ambient change between realities would change the DNA spirals as well? No, Rin would have thought about it, for sure. But had she actually tested it? She never mentioned this before, but I can imagine the lecture I would receive from her if I let this chance pass.

But then, what would the Tohsakas think if the DNA sequences were identical? Only identical twins have identical DNA, I think. But with my apparent age, would they think that it was an error and try to run the tests again? Worse, would they think I was a clone? If I go along with them, what could I do in this situation. Then the solution came smacking me down on the face. I had several Devil acquaintances, and at least Rias and Shitori knew magic to manipulate memories. I don't like that as a solution, but I could use it. My hypnosis is lackluster at the best of times, and the amount of raw magical energy these two emanate, I imagine their magic resistance must be pretty high too.

I still don't know if they are Magicians or not though. They went into my workshop, Rin had too, but no one commented on the Formalcraft circle so far. Either they were being discrete, thought I was just a wannabe and were hiding it themselves, or were normal and simply thought it was decoration. Rin did demonstrate to me her Part of Temperance, though, pulling it out of nowhere and, in retrospect, my lack of reaction about the 'trick' she demonstrated summoning it could indicate that they were aware of magic, and she didn't realize that as far as she knew, I wasn't.

"Please?" The brunette pleaded again when I spent so much time quiet.

I pulled both my hands over my face and rubbed hard. "Look, I'll do it with three conditions."

They both sat forward on the couch, eager to hear me.

"First, don't tell about this to him before we hear the results. Second, we'll read the results here once they are done, not before and specially not in his presence. And three, even if it turns out that we are related, I don't want you to tell him." I put a hand up the moment Sakura opened her mouth. "I'll not be around for long, and I think that he would be better off if he didn't know about it at all."

"Are you moving away?" The man asked.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. I don't know when, but yes." I told the man. "If you agree to these three conditions, then we can do it."

They looked at each other and then Sakura grimaced to him. "But Emiya-san..." Tokiomi-san began but stopped, seemingly not knowing how to complete his thought.

"The whole reason why we are doing this is for him." Sakura-san picked up. "If you are related to him, it wouldn't be fair for him to not know. I understand that you may have your reservations as well, but what good would this knowledge do me or my father."

I stopped to think again. And damn, she was right. I could simply agree to remove that condition, then later erase the memory, but maybe they could talk to someone else in the meantime. I exhaled leaning my head back. What to do? My counterpart here was the one who had the weaker magic signature, so I could try my hypnosis on him. But I had to also think about the fact that he was the Owner of the Wrath Part. What other properties did those Parts have? Could it protect him from manipulation?

I let out a defeated breath. "Alright. But in that case, I want to be the one who tells him. And want to be the one who'll explain to him my reasons." Worst come to worst, I could work around his magic resistance or have Akeno or Rias on hand.

The smile that came to their faces was something I expected. The tackle Sakura delivered me from across the table was not. Her exuberant display almost crushed Marion who was behind the couch when the force of the impact toppled it over. "Thank you, Emiya-san!" The woman shouted while still hugging me.

"Onii-chan?!" "Shirou?!" "Shirou-sama!?" "Shirou-dono!" Asia, Akeno, Sophie, Karlamine and Julie appeared from the doorway that led to the backyard, probably coming after hearing the loud noise the impact of the furniture made when it hit the ground.

The woman let go of me and, clumsily, scooted over to the side, sitting seiza and bowing to me. "I'm sorry, Emiya-san. It was reflex."

Another difference between the Sakuras. The Sakura from my world wasn't prone to sudden bouts of physical demonstration during her most excited moments. Either that, or that Sakura had never been so happy as to act this way. I continued in the same position with my legs over the couch as if I was still sitting on it normally, but in the situation, I was looking at the ceiling instead of the other side of the table. "No problem..."

A minute later I had righted the couch again and was sitting on my place. The yukata clad woman was blushing furiously about her sudden effusiveness, which actually made her look quite cute, despite her age. Tokiomi-san was grinning madly at her, no doubt thinking that he had some blackmail material to use later. Somehow, during all of that, she didn't knocked down a single one of the teacups out of the middle table. That was quite the feat.

Also, after I sat down, both Asia and Akeno bracketed me on both sides, with the blonde hugging my arm to her chest, while glaring across the table. Though, as I said before, Asia's glare equals petting zoos and teddy bears on my mind, and apparently the others agreed with my assessment, judging by their cooing faces when looking at the blonde. Akeno too, sat a little more closely than normal on the other side, but she didn't pull my other arm, though she did have that small smile on her lips that I knew all to well. It meant run for cover at the earliest opportunity. My only solace was that it was directed at the blushing woman on the other side of the table. At least the other girls didn't act like these two, but I couldn't actually see their faces as they simply stood behind the couch.

"Well, before we were..." The man started again. "interrupted... We were debating your conditions for doing this favor for us."

"If you agree with them, I have no more problems." I nodded to the man.

He pulled packet with a cotton swab from the inner pocket of his coat, and I raised an eyebrow at him. "I did say that I like to finish this before I leave the country." He explained, and I sighed. He was well prepared at least.

"So, how do I do it? Just prick my finger and bleed on it?" I asked. I had never actually seen how DNA tests were done.

"Oh, no. That's not necessary. Just swab it inside your mouth, on the cheek side, then put it into this container." He offered me a thin plastic container where I should put the swab.

I did as asked and put the item inside the container. "How much time until you get the results?" I asked as I returned to him.

"I'll head over the to labs today, but..." He said, putting a hand on his chin. "I don't actually know how much time, but I don't think it'll take more than a week." He told me in a reassuring tone.

A week, right after the Peace Conference. "I have some work to do in four days that will take three to complete, so that would serve for me as well."

"What kind of work you do, if you don't mind me asking?" He put the container back on his inner pocket while asking me.

"I'm a freelancer, but mostly repair work." I answered him. My cover story hadn't changed in years, but here I would have to adjust some things.

"I thought you were just the Administrator of the dormitory?" He continued to fish.

"That came later after a series of events. Before that I had to pay the bills in some way." I shrugged.

"I see. Of course, of course." He said getting up from the couch, followed by a incredibly subdued Sakura-san. She was still blushing and all but jumped at the call from her father. "Well, we'll be going now."

"Of course." Then I remembered. "Ah, just a moment, please. Asia, can you get me a notebook?" Before the blonde could even move, Marion was already handing me a notepad. "Ah, thank you." I took and jotted down my number and ripped the paper off. "Here, if anything happens, just give me a call."

Once we reached the front gate, he turned back to me. "Thank you, Emiya-san."

"No problem." I waved if off. "Have a good day, Tokiomi-san, Sakura-san."

After the usual goodbyes I felt weary. Dealing with both the Maou and the Tohsakas was hard. When I got back to the living room, I could imagine the questions going through all the girls who only witnessed the end of the conversation. I sat down on the couch again, and leaned forward, putting both my hands on my face, while resting the elbows on my knees.

I kept like that for almost a minute, before Asia asked. "What was that all about, Onii-chan?" Her voice came from in front of me, and when I cracked open my eyes to peek through my fingers she was kneeling there, looking at me with a worried face. "First that lady starts talking about all those things back there in the yard, then she was all over you on the floor and then you used that swab on your mouth. We don't understand what happened."

I removed a hand from my face, to pat her on the head. "It's nothing, Asia. Just an experiment. They think Sakura-san's husband is related to me, so they came to convince me to take a DNA test to confirm it."

"But-" She started, but I cut her off.

"I know, but curiosity got the better of me." I smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry, I have everything under control."

She closed her eyes at my ministrations, but then Akeno sat beside me. "Shirou, are you sure that's wise?"

"Wise?" I turned to her, still patting the blonde, while sitting back on the couch. "No. It wasn't. But that was a chance that I couldn't pass up."

Studying me, she let the matter drop without saying anything else.

Well, it looks like the days I thought would be to take it easy will be more frenetic than expected.

* * *

I may have been a little hasty in saying that the next few days would be frenetic. I should have said that the next few hours would be more frenetic because of what was happening right now. An hour after the Tohsakas left the house, just when I was about time for me to cast the Beacon Spell, my alarms roared. I immediately went in the direction of where it was coming from but was stopped when three creatures attacked me.

They felt like Devils, having the same signature as a Pureblood Devil, but the way they acted was more akin to beasts. The creatures main body was that of a wolf, with serpent for a tail that spit fire streams and with bird-like wings on their backs. The moment they pounced on me, I heard the alarm go off in the dormitory, as well, but they were cutting my way to go there.

My yard was big, but not nearly big enough for me to be able to fight these three beasts well. Any move I did in the direction of any of them the other two would attack with their fire spitting serpent tails, creating an opening for the third to retreat, and kept me from moving in the direction of the house as well. That wasn't good. It really wasn't good at all.

Not to mention that my Boundary Field wasn't a disinterest one, so whoever walked by the street would see exactly what was happening in the courtyard of my house. Grimacing at the thought, I made my decision, jumping over the wall that connected to the empty lot behind my house and lured the beasts in my direction, but to my increased dismay, only two came, the third continued on my yard. It didn't left with much leeway on what I could do. The girls were in danger, and I'll be damned before I let anything happen to them.

Forgetting about not been seen, I traced fifteen blueprints of different types of swords to each of the two beasts and prepared to fire them as soon as I had them engaged. One of them lunged at me and I fended off its claws with Bakuya, while simultaneously slashing with Kanshou. My strike was blocked by one of the wings, but that was enough to make the beast get off balance. The other one lunged a moment later and I couldn't press my advantage on the first, having to jump aside to dodge another clawed paw. But with that, they both were in position, so I finished tracing the swords and impaled both of them with as many feet of steel as I could. To my chagrin that didn't stop either of the beasts. I had used only normal swords, deeming them enough to deal with these creatures. I mean, they were enough to kill three Fallen Angels before, so I could assume that these mindless beasts wouldn't be more powerful than them right?

Well, assumption on the battlefield get people killed. Hadn't I made that exact lecture to Quarta a few days ago? I admonished myself. The swords at least managed to pin the creatures on the ground, giving me enough time to trace Excalibur Mimic. I don't like the name of this Holy Sword, and I really hate that they even had the gal to call it that, but I couldn't deny the usefulness of its ability and its properties. It was Holy Sword, that basically let the user morph it into anything he saw fit. So, I willed it to transform itself into a fishing net, with razor sharp wires, that I used to blanket both beasts and pulled it, dismissing the swords pinning them to the ground on the process. The razor thin wires were still Holy in nature, and minced both creatures into hundreds chunks of blackened meat. I kept watching the downed creatures for a few more seconds to make sure that they wouldn't just regenerate, then I turned back to the wall.

Dismissing the sword-net, I jumped over the wall again, only to be greeted with a gout of flame almost to the face. At the same time I heard a second alarm go off in the dormitory, on the third floor, and realized that the alarms on the three floors were blaring. I jumped into the flame, Reinforcing my skin and clothes, and tracing Durandal at the same time. When I finally touched down on the ground, I had bisected the beast, both parts falling aside, but I didn't stop to see my handiwork this time. I hit the ground running and entered the house through the open door to the backyard.

There wasn't anyone there. Not in the living room, kitchen, bedrooms and foyer. The house was completely empty and without a single spec of dust out of place, as if no one had been there in the first place, not even in the kitchen. I knew for a fact that Akeno and Asia were the ones who would make dinner tonight, so they should be there, but nothing. Not even a cutting board or a knife were out of place. I dashed through the hallway connecting to the dormitory, trying to find the signatures of the Devils but there was none. Not a single Devil inside the entirety of the Boundary Field.

Only a single person was standing in the lobby. A man, wearing a tuxedo, with a top hat. He had a mustache that was obviously gelled to stay in position curled out of the frame of his face and a goatee. All in all, he appeared more like a Magician performer from Las Vegas than anything else. "Who are you?" I demanded, already getting into a stance with Durandal, and calling several blueprints around the man.

"Oh, Emiya Shirou, I presume?" The man asked. "Would you be so kind as to stop this horrible sound? It's really hard to talk with all this ruckus."

"No." Willing myself to not attack the man immediately, I told him bluntly. "Now answer the question. Who are you and what did you do to the girls?"

The man sighed dramatically. "I see. Is always hard to deal with Strays." He shook his head with condescendence. "Alas, I'm here only to guide you as requested by my partner. I have no quarrel with you."

"I'll decide that once I know what you are doing in my property and what you did with my tenants." I dismissed Durandal and called Kanshou and Bakuya. "Now, who are you and what did you do to the girls."

He continued to act as if he didn't even hear me talking. "If you could come with me, my partner wants to talk to you." He didn't stop to acknowledge and walked in the direction of the wall, then through the wall. A moment later he came back and said. "Through here, please." And disappeared again.

I took a deep breath, and walked to the wall and stuck Bakuya to it and it went through, as if there was no substance to the wall at all. I pulled back and took a step aside. It was then that I realized that it was a tear in the fabric of reality, and not the wall itself there. Only a translucent 'door' that was next to the wall, not the wall itself that had lost its substance. I grimaced, and went through it, only to be greeted by the sight that had only one word to describe. Hell. Fire everywhere, brimstone lining a lava lake and stone steps right in front of me going to a raised platform. The sky was dark and all the lighting came from the fire on the walls in the distance. At first I thought that we were underground, but that was not the case. We were outside, but it was night wherever here was.

"Come with me, please." The Magician said, already climbing the steps, but before I could say anything he disappeared from the step he took and was already at the last step. Someone who can use teleportation like that would be called an Esper in my world. I also understood what he was doing. Flaunting his power, saying that it didn't matter what I did, I would never be able to get him.

I started climbing the steps, when I finally realized that the smoke and ash feeling I was getting wasn't just from the lava. It was in the air. The very Mana in the ambient was saturated with that power. It was daunting to think that there was a place with more Mana in the air than a leyline nexus, but here everything was permeated with Prana.

When I finished climbing the steps, I had a clear view of the platform. It was an arena, with around a quarter mile in diameter. In the center of it, a raised dais with a throne where someone was sitting, and the Magician was beside the throne. I started walking in the direction of the dais while still trying to piece together what was happening.

"Are you going to answer my questions now?" I asked the Magician, refusing to look to whoever was sitting on the throne. It was Devil, that much was certain, but with the lighting being so bad, I couldn't make out any features behind the blue cloak covering the frame.

"Guypiat Antoine Marchosias, Heir to the House of Marchosias, at your service, Emiya Shirou." The voice came from the cloaked figure. "I'm glad that you decided to agree to this meeting face to face."

"I didn't agree with anything." I ground my teeth together. "I want to know where are-"

"Oh, but you came nevertheless." The man got up from his seat, cutting me off, and removed his cloak with same movement, to reveal a androgynous figure of a young man with long blue hair and eyes, wearing a gold plated armor that covered his torso and waist, a pair of golden greaves that went up to his thighs and gauntlets that went to his upper arm. "I have a proposal, one that you'll not deny me."

I narrowed my eyes at the man and repeated. "Where are the girls?"

He chuckled, snapping his fingers and immediately several creatures, similar to the ones I fought on my backyard, floated up from behind the lip of the raised platform, every single one of them carrying a cage on their paws. Inside each cage, one of the girls was sprawled inside, unconscious. "As you can see, they are all quite well, but that can change with a snap of my fingers."

I narrowed my eyes at him, before looking at every single one of the girls, without moving my head. Only my eyes, my body was still primed for action.

"I have a proposal for you, Emiya Shirou." He said, stepping down the three steps of the Dais. "Help me bring back the Marchosias Clan to its glorious days we had before the Great War, and their lives will be spared. Even better, they'll be the first mothers of the new line of the Marchosias Clan."

"Help you." I repeated, without making it into a question, just a statement.

"Yes, in reclaiming the glorious place the Marchosias Clan had as one of the strongest military Clans in Devil history." He began to walk in my direction, probably dismissing my stance with the married swords, without a care in the world. "The Marchosias was known for their ability as reliable fighters during the War, that's why they ended up nearly extinct. We don't have a rightful Heir, as I am the only Pureblooded Marchosias left. Unfortunately, that isn't enough to reignite our Clan. I was having problems with that since I needed more Devils to be united under my cause, but none came to our aid. Not even the Oriax, Valac or Phenex, who we had such close ties in the past." He shook his head when he finally reached me. "I needed more than just fighters to restart our Clan, but not anyone could be brought into the fold. He had to be powerful, but also honest and honorable."

He walked around me, and continued talking, while I kept my eyes on the Magician.

"We pride ourselves in never telling a lie to any question that is made to us, you see, but Devils are beings of deception so you can imagine the daunting task it is to find people who can fit into the mold of a Marchosias. As I said, I'm the last one, and in order to continue my lineage, I need an Heir, and need to replenish the numbers of our Clan. Trying to get a single Pureblooded Devil to even think in coming to the Marchosias Clan when we are in such dire circumstances is impossible."

He began to walk in circles around me and I was trying very hard not to give away anything at the moment. He still didn't say exactly what he wants but I could already imagine.

"I had spent decades trying to find a Devil to aid me, but when I couldn't, I had to compromise. I began searching for Reincarnated Devils, or even Humans who could fit the mold." He made an exasperated sound. "It was a vain effort. Humans are too weak to be of use, aside from cannon fodder, and the ones who are strong enough, aren't honorable or honest. Sometimes neither." He stopped in front of me. "Then you came, a human, than can stand toe to toe with Fallen Angels older than humanity itself. Who is honorable and honest with everything he does. You, my friend, is everything a Marchosias should be, so that's why I ask you again, would you help me in my task?"

"Kidnapping more than twenty girls isn't a very honorable act, if you ask me." I let out through gritted teeth. My jaw was starting to hurt already.

He looked ashamed at my reasoning. "As I said, in the end, I had to compromise. The gains outweighs the losses in this case, and since you rejected me once before without even letting me talk with you, I had to go for desperate measures."

I didn't actually reject him. By his words, he was one of the Devils who requested to recruit me to the Maous but Levia-tan never delivered the message, or sent anyone in her place after her blunder. "What do you want, exactly?" I said, biting every word out.

"I want you in my Peerage," He said with an smile. "You'll be part of the Marchosias Clan, and all your wives as well, of course." He said with such a certainty that I almost fell on the ground.

"What?" It didn't compute. I tried to reboot my brain, but still it didn't.

"I want you as part of my Peerage, and your wives as part of my Clan." He repeated, still assured on himself.

The query finally went through and I started to laugh, hard and loud. I couldn't help it. It was such an absurd thing that I just couldn't. "You committed... some very... glaring mistakes." I said in between breaths.

He looked at me nonplussed by my guffaws and continued. "You don't need to try and hide it, Emiya. We have researched you thoroughly. Saving damsels from other Devils who were with less than wholesome masters, building a home for them all, even convincing the Maous into letting you create your own Peerage, even though you are human, to cover the fact that you are a man that, though honorable and honest, is still driven by lust, same as every other human."

"Researched?" I asked, trying to get my laughter back in control, and failing miserably.

"Oh, yes. I had spies on Kuoh Town for quite some time. Unfortunately we weren't able to bypass the defenses on your house, but the reports from the other people you associate yourself with on the Academy, and in the neighborhood, were quite helpful to create a clear picture of what you really are, Emiya."

"Please." I said in between snorts. "Tell you didn't believe all the rumors floating over the school."

He scrunched his brows at me, confused. "With so many accounts, and of course the more outlandish ones we dismissed out of hand, you can't tell me that they aren't the truth. Maybe not the complete truth, but you managed to bring to your side, not only members of the Gremory Clan, but also members of the Astaroth and Phenex Clans. Even receiving permission from Lord Phenex himself for his only daughter to live with your other wives. It obviously tells us that you have enough cunning as any Devil."

"By the Root of the World and all its secrets." I said, finally getting my breath in order. "You're really serious." He continued to look at me bewildered, and I had to try and look serious again. It was hard, the corners of my mouth kept curling up involuntarily. "First, none of the girls are my wives. They are under my protection, two different things. Second, I would never submit them or let them be submitted again to treatment they were receiving with their former Kings. Third, the Maous have already blocked me for Peerage, haven't you heard?"

"Oh, yes. The block." He said, ignoring everything else I said, apparently. "That won't be a problem. You see, if you lose a wager during a Rating Game with that at stake, even they can't do anything about it."

"A Rating Game." I repeated, dread finally winning over my early bemusement. "Only Devils may participate in Rating Games."

"Yes. Only Devils, so you won't be participating. Your wives will." He said. "And we'll wager that you'll be part of my Peerage once you lose."

"How's that even going to work?" I said tensing again. "And who's to say I'll even agree to such a thing."

"Well, if you don't, all your wives will take a dip into the lava pool." He said nonplussed. "I believe that its quite a painful way to die, even for a Devil."

I gritted my teeth again, trying to regain my balance. "When?"

"Right now." He said and with that another fifteen figures appeared around him, all similar creatures as the ones I had fought on my courtyard, with subtle differences between them. I had a nagging suspicion of what the creatures were. They all had the same signature as a Pureblood, but at the same time, not. Analyzing them more closely I could understand at least the differences between them. They were divided as if they were the Pieces on a Peerage. Eight of them were equals to the ones carrying the cages above the lava, two were similar to the ones I fought before, another two pairs were different as well, and the last one was bigger than all the others.

"What are these creatures?" I voiced my thoughts without meaning to. Marchosias heard and decided to answer.

"These are my ancestors." His voice was tinged with regret. "You see, my first attempt at getting the Marchosias Clan out of the extinction line was to try and revive my ancestors, through liberal use of Necromancy. The bodies of these Hellhounds were created to house their souls, and nurture them until they were strong enough to receive a more permanent body. Alas, it failed when the souls of my ancestors refused to bond with the creatures and were instead devoured by them. The Hellhounds themselves are quite prideful, and under my complete control, but they aren't really Devils, even lesser Devils. They are, as you said, creatures, to be used as I see fit." I was still off balance by the callousness of the blue haired Devil when he simply continued without giving me time to process that. "Sign here, Emiya, and let the Game begin." He produced a piece of paper but I didn't let my eyes of his. "Ah, I should probably mention. If I die, all the Hellhounds will disappear, as well." He then smiled brightly. "Immediately." The threat was clear. The moment he died, the creatures maintaining the girls afloat would cease to exist, making them all fall.

He presented me with the paper, on top of a wooden tablet that reeked of Prana. It was a Pact, and it had only four clauses. One. If I lost, he would be the owner of my Soul. Two. I couldn't take active part during the game and had to remain in the area demarked in the back. Three, I couldn't attack anyone during the game. Four, I would wave the need for witnesses for this contract. Processing the situation I was in, the clauses on the contract and his conditions, I decided to make a bet. "I want another clause here."

"I'm not sure you are in position to make demands, Emiya." He answered.

"I just want it to say that I can choose another one of them to fight as King." I said to him. "If you compromise too much on you honor, future Master, you'll have none at the end of the road."

He looked up for a moment. "I like the way you think, Emiya. I'm sure we'll be good comrades in the future." He waved his hand, the words appearing on the contract, saying that I could choose a King and that it would receive all the benefits of a normal King only for this Rating Game. I grimaced and signed the paper, fire erupting from the letters, my signature included, and marking the wood below, before the tablet disappeared from my hands. At least he had the decency of writing the thing in Japanese.

"Now, choose your members. The stage will be this arena. There'll be no automatic teleportation to a infirmary. This is going to be a battle to the death." He said at the end and with another wave of his hand, the dais disappeared from the center, before reappearing at the other end of the platform. He was trying to threaten me with the lives of the girls.

"Very well. First, my King will be Ravel." I declared, and out of nowhere, the cage that was carrying Ravel appeared in front of me, before disappearing as well and the girl was deposited at my feet. He really did his research if he knew who was who between all the girls.

"Ravel." I called her. "Ravel." Louder this time. "Ravel!" I shouted in the end, and the girl curled up before opening her eyes.

"Lord... Emiya?" She asked me, blearily, before realization dawned on her and she sat up quickly, eyes darting everywhere, before locking on the other side of the platform. "Guypiat!"

"Are you leaving your fate into the hands of an inexperienced King, Emiya?" Even though he was already on the other side of the platform, his voice came clear to both me and the blonde.

"I take it you know him." I said to the girl and she whirled at me.

"Yes." She said gritting her teeth. "He was to be my fianceé before I was elevated as the third in line for the Phenex Clan." She bit it out. "Not that he knew about it. Anyway, what happened here, Lord Emiya? Why are we on the Underworld?"

My eyes widened at that. "We are?" I asked dumbly. "I didn't know." Then shook it off. There's more at stake here than the realization of my location. "Please, choose the girls to form a Peerage. I'll talk with all of you once they are all here."

"Lord Emiya? What do you mean?" I shook my head.

"Too much at stake at the moment." I sighed then explained to her the encounter so far. "Just select from the girls a set of fifteen to form a Peerage."

She grimaced and looked at me. "But Lord Emiya, this isn't a sanctioned Rating Game. Death here is real! I can't- I can't-" She started to stammer.

"Don't worry, I have a plan. All you need to do is follow it." She looked at me, still white as sheet of paper, but then took a deep breath.

"Very well. Who should I choose?"

"Whoever you want, but Marion. Just make it quick. He didn't exactly told me how much time we did have." I said to her and she looked at the caged girls all around the platform.

"If you had chosen someone else, at least I could survive if I fell into the lava." She said in the end.

"You're the only one with the skills necessary to pull this off without anyone dying." I made her look back at me. "Trust me."

She frowned, thinking, then began. "Queen, Sophie." I raised an eyebrow at her first choice. I was sure she would choose Akeno here, since she already had the moniker of Priestess of Thunder, but apparently she was already correlating the information I had given her and strategizing in her head. I had to bit down a chuckle at that. "Bishop, Mihae and Asia." Well, Asia's Sacred Gear and Mihae's demonic power manipulation made these two no-brainers, since both Astrid and Alberta's Sacred Gears had drawbacks too high to be useful at the moment. "Knight, Sylvi and Karlamine." Both safe choices as well, Sylvi had come a long way from the awkward Knight who couldn't actually use her Sacred Gear, and Karlamine was a Knight through and through. "Rook, Xuelan and Julie." Julie's Sacred Gear, or better yet, her Balance Breaker would be invaluable here, and Xuelan was easy to command so they were safe choices as well. "Pawns, Carlota, Naiara, Tomoko, Chevonne, Carmela, Solveiga, Khalilah and Candida." The crux of this strategy depended on these Pawns. All in all, it was a good battalion.

One by one, the girls started to be deposited in front of us, until the last six that were left dangling in their places were moved to the end of the platform, behind the dais Marchosias was sitting at. I waited until all of them were awake to start explaining the situation for them. "I'm sorry that I let the situation get to this, but I want you all to trust me on this. Like in training, obey Ravel instructions to the letter. Worst case scenario, I'll tell her to resign. Don't worry, I'll make sure every single one of you gets away from here alive." I smiled reassuringly. "This is a trial by fire, but I trust you all." Then I looked over the girls who were still being held unconscious inside the cages, narrowing my eyes. "Don't worry, we'll all get out of here alive and well."

They looked around between themselves before back at me and nodding. "Make your preparations." Ravel ordered but I noticed a problem immediately.

"Karlamine, Sylvi, Carlota, Tomoko, Solveiga, Candida. Come here." I called them and began projecting swords for each one of them in turn. With so much prana around it was almost laughable how easy it was. They each got their swords and then I looked the others, while muttering. "Sophie, won't need anything, Xuelan, as well. Mihae, do you need a foci?" The girl shook her head, pointing to wrist, and I understood. Her bracelet that was her foci, and it hadn't been stripped. Asia used her Sacred Gear, Julie had hers, as well. Chevonne didn't need a foci, but Khalilah, Carmela and Naiara would need shields for this strategy to work. I projected the strongest nameless shields I could and handed them to the girls.

"Are you all ready?" Ravel asked and when the girls nodded I pulled the blonde back and started explaining just for her my plans, until I got to the most important part. She turned to me wide eyed. "You can't do that!"

I put a hand on her head and she squeaked. "Trust me on this, okay?" I said, crouching to be at her eye level. "It's our only chance of not getting anyone killed. At least, not getting anyone on our side killed." Then I finished the last parts of this strategy.

She continued looking at me for some time, absorbing everything I told her, then nodded and turned to the others. "Okay, here's how we'll divide the groups."

As she began her impromptu strategy session I walked back to the area where I was allowed to stay, near the stone steps I climbed earlier, standing at attention with both hands behind my back, as if I was a soldier, looking to the other six girls who were all in the air behind the throne where Marchosias was sitting. My eyes drifted back down to the 'Peerage' Marchosias had and narrowed my eyes. These creatures were just mindless beasts, but they were though. By the looks of them, the ones I had fought on my yard were the equivalent of Rooks on his side.

I shook my head once. I couldn't take active action during this game, as per the contract, but that didn't mean I would stay quiet here. Concentrating on the King Piece I had, I willed it to pump more Mana into the Pieces of the other girls on the field, the same way I had done with Julie when I was healing her. I have no idea what the extra boost will do, or if would even work without skin contact, but if there's a chance that they need the extra firepower and I can provide them, then they'll get it.

"Sophie." Ravel began giving instructions, as soon as the Magician appeared in the center of the stage to signal the start of the Game, his voice carrying over the entirety of the battlefield, surprisingly. "You and Asia work in tandem to distract any higher Piece that gets too close. Julie and Karlamine, defend them as well."

All of a sudden, three of the Pawns from the other side were already on top of Ravel. They had teleported the same way the Magician was doing. The three creatures growled and in a burst of Prana the three had grown to the same size as the Queen on the other side. They had promoted and immediately started attacking the girls, who were getting hard pressed to keep them away from their temporary King.

That is, if that didn't play right into one of our strategies. True, I didn't want her to reveal that trump card so early, but now that the Pawns had already reached her territory, there was no other way.

The blonde had just finished using one of her fire explosion spells, and shouted. "I, Ravel Phenex, King of this Peerage now declare, the platform we're standing on as enemy territory!"

I could hear the shout from the blue haired man all the way from my position. "What!?"

"Promotion allowed for the duration of this battle!" She continued, her whole body engulfed in flames. "Solveiga, Chevonne. Promote Queen. Carlota, Naiara, Carmela, Khalilah, Candida, Tomoko. Promote Knight."

The girls started promoting in short order and I could feel that they were draining more Mana from the King Piece, still not near enough of what I could offer, so I kept pushing more and more into their Pieces. Karlamine and Sylvi double teamed one of the Promoted Pawns from Marchosias and made short work of him. Two strokes from the former Knight, and one from my Knight were enough to kill the creature. The other two were triple or even quadruple teamed by the rest of the girls.

In the end, the first combat was so quick that they didn't even had time to retreat. "What?! How?" Marchosias' voice came from the other side of the platform.

"This is an unsanctioned Rating Game. There are no rules here. This is a battle... no, a War." I don't know if Ravel's voice was reaching the other side, but at least she was talking. "A War that we're not going to lose." I would feel proud of the girl if it wasn't for the fact that she just parroted one of my lines during one of our training sessions.

Still, it seemed to have an effect on the other side. "How dare you mock-"

"No more talk. Knights, advance, Rooks defensive positions, Queens and Bishops support the Knights." The blonde ordered and they all started advancing, leaving only Xuelan and Julie in her defense. There was a chorus of acknowledgements as they began to move forward, in a loose formation. Loose for the untrained eye, true. They were using the time to judge the terrain, and calculate the distance of their attacks. The ones who had promoted to Knights also had another, much more important role, but I had to leave Ravel to do her part first.

The man on the other side cackled. "What's this? An all out attack? I'll admit that I was surprised by your declaration, but you're still too green for a Rating Game." I could feel his attention turning back to me. "I told you she was inexperienced, Emiya. No matter, this is the end. Bishops, rain down fire on them."

The girls started darting around the fireballs that were coming, and with the speed of higher Pieces they promoted to, that was easy for them. Tomoko and Chevonne, being Queens, fired their own spells back, together with Mihae who provided covering fire. Then his Knights entered the fray. The first was intercepted by Karlamine, who pulled the creature aside, luring it away from the main force. The second was intercepted as well, but by Sophie, who couldn't actually get hurt with her Heaven's Aura protecting her. With her Aura flickering on and off as she continuously fired low cost spells at the creature, she lured it away from the center of the platform. With both Bishops and Knights tied in combat, three more of his Pawns appeared in front of Ravel, already attacking her.

Xuelan made short work of two of them, and Julie's Balance Breaker, Secret of the Apostles, appeared over Ravel who looked impassive at the Pawn who tried to hit her, his claw actually hitting the Shield. Julie's Sacred Gear, on the normal form, could stop countless Light Spears from a high ranking Fallen Angel. The attack from a creature equivalent to a Pawn wasn't enough to make her even blink. Ravel actually incinerated the creature using her own flames.

I was waiting for all the Pieces to be engaged, but so far, both Rooks were still being held back, as was his Queen. I needed them all to be in combat for my plan to work.

Keeping track of the battlefield I could see that Asia's Shield spell was keeping Mihae, Chevonne and Tomoko from getting hit by any of the spells from the Bishops, and both Knights were tied with Karlamine and Sophie. I was actually surprised that his Knight was keeping Karlamine occupied for so long. When my eyes scanned to the other side to check on Sophie, both Pawns that he had left entered the fray, attacking the advancing Knights with spells. The two beasts didn't stand a chance against the girls. Naiara and Carmela intercepted the attacks with their shields, while both Solveiga and Candida did short work of them. There was no way they would be able to do anything.

That was when the third teleportation hit. Both Rooks and Queen were teleported this time, and I realized why Marchosias had sent them to attack. He wasn't afraid of getting attacked, because if he died, the girls still inside the cages would fall on the lava pit. That's why he sent his three higher Pieces. The Magician had said that Marchosias was his partner, so they probably had a Pact more in depth than the one me and Rias signed sometime ago. He could use the Magician's spells to teleport around the battlefield, apparently at will, or with a short delay, if the three teleportations were to be taken as a sample. I couldn't be sure about anything, so I did what I had said earlier and didn't assume that was the extent of his powers.

It played into my hands anyway. Xuelan was having trouble to defend against the beast spitting flames and attacking with claws, but only on the level of having to break a sweat to dodge the claws and fire. Julie was still maintaining her Balance Breaker, over herself and Ravel, who wasn't stopping to rain fireballs and other fire based spells on the opponents. At first Julie couldn't maintain her shields for much time, but now she could spend almost thirty minutes with her Balance Breaker active. Sylvi saw this and began to retreat to help her King.

Seeing as everyone was tied on their own skirmishes, I traced a weapon on my hands, still behind my back, and subtly stabbed myself. Rule Breaker did its work, breaking the contract without any ill effect for either party. Since there was no effect at all for Marchosias, he couldn't have noticed my treachery, and he would probably chalk up the Prana burst from it to some spell being cast. The girls were holding themselves well, and the Knights were all in position, so I held both my hands up, dismissing Rule Breaker and projecting two spears. One on each hand.

With so much Prana here, it was easy to do this. I didn't even need that much time to call or even charge the power of this Noble Phantasm, even with two of them, the strain wasn't a problem. When I felt the spear almost completely charged I yelled. "Heads up!"

Ravel immediately shouted. "Promoted Knights. Take flight!" The six promoted Knights that were almost at Marchosias at this point sprouted their wings and took off from the ground, each darting in the direction of one of the cages. One of the things that I had been training with them was for them to use the fact that they were Devils, they could fly. They should use that to their advantage, and not just as a way to move from point A to point B. It was such an obvious thing that I'm surprised that I even had to point it out, seeing as I don't have wings of my own.

When the promoted Knights were halfway at the Hellhounds holding the cages, I saw Marchosias get up from his throne, and look disbelievingly at me when I called. "Gae Bolg!" Throwing both spears, one in the direction of the Magician who was still standing in the middle of the battlefield, while the other spear in the direction of Marchosias.

"What?!" It was all the Devil could say, before the spear pierced his heart. "You can't do that... You signed the contract..." His voice already fading, while the Magician teleported away from the oncoming spear that almost hit him.

In the meantime, the hellhounds holding the cages disappeared, along with all of the others that were on the battlefield. The promoted Knights were able to get to the cages, thanks to their speed, and held them in the air. A few moments later, they stabilized and started bringing them back to the platform.

The Magician reappeared right in front of me. "You can't hit me with that toy, Stray!" His face contorted into a sneer of contempt. "I'm a member of the Nilrem. I've been blessed by Ophis. You have no way to-" His speech was cut short when a red line appeared on his chest.

I looked impassive at the line, then at his face. "Do you know the legend of Gae Bolg?" My only answer was the blood being spouted from his mouth, so I continued. "The Spear of the Hound of Ireland, Cú Chulainn. Once activated, it will pierce the heart of the target. It doesn't matter what he does. The spear reverses the cause and effect. It's not 'the spear was thrown and the heart was pierced'. Its 'the spear was thrown 'because' the heart was pierced'."

I looked down at the man on who fell the floor before toppling over the side and into the lava pit. There's no way that he would be able to answer any questions that I still had anyway and the safety of the girls came first. I looked up, in the direction of where Marchosias' body had been pinned to the throne by Gae Bolg. I didn't dismiss the spear yet. I have no idea if this guy is like Riser and can regenerate or something. He did say that the Hellhounds would disappear once he died, but I can't be sure that even that is permanent. Without moving my eyes from him as I walked forward, I began a roll call. When everyone answered, I sighed in relief.

"Good," I nodded. "Now, where are we and how do we get back?" I asked no one in particular. Akeno, Margareth, Alberta, Astrid, Marion and Giselle were okay, they were sleeping the whole time they were inside the cages. Two overedged strikes with Kanshou and Bakuya made short work on the metal bars and they were removed from inside the remains of the cages. Seconds later they all started to wake up, disoriented, but fine. That was good.

"We're on the Underworld." Ravel reminded me. "I have no idea where, though."

"Do you think you could recognize the landscape if you floated up there?" I asked the blonde Phenex.

She looked up, thinking for a moment, but before she could answer anything a burst of Prana came from the side. From Asia's direction.

I called Kanshou and Bakuya again immediately and pulled the former Nun behind my back keeping myself in front of everyone else. A red sigil formed itself on the ground, and a second later four more sigils formed around the first. In a burst of Prana, Rias appeared, hands crackling with black energy, Kiba and Quarta appeared or either side of her, Ise and Koneko in front of her. Kiba had two of his Holy Demonic Swords on hand, Quarta had Durandal drawed, Koneko was poised to pounce on anything that moved wrong and Ise had his Boosted Gear out and in a stance as well.

It took two seconds for Rias to recognize me, but I was already relaxing my stance. "Shirou!" She looked at me then at people around us. "What happened? Out of nowhere I lost contact with Asia and Akeno, and when I tried to track them through their Pieces they were on the Underworld."

I dismissed my swords and tried to take a step forward, only to fall on my knees. "What... the..."

I heard a chorus of several people calling my name simultaneously, but my vision was getting blurry. I inhaled deeply, but nothing seemed to enter my lungs. "Shirou!" I heard someone call for me closer than before.

The world started to spin and I had no idea what was going on, then everything began to shake as well. I tried to focus myself, fight through the dizziness, but couldn't do much about the shaking. That's because the shaking wasn't because of something with me, but the platform itself was shaking. I stumbled backwards once, then I felt someone hold me. "Take flight, it's going to erupt." I heard Akeno's voice in my ears, the shout left my already dizzy head ringing.

I felt my body being held by the torso, below my arms, and pulling me up. Only the shaking didn't stop, my vision could only see that everyone was taking flight as well, except for Ise who too had to be carried by Rias. A minute later I saw that we were all floating away from an exploding volcano, billowing smoke, ash and lava. Through all of that I was still trying to get air in my lungs, but it seemed harder than it should be, as if I was on top of a mountain.

Two minutes of this and we all landed on another smaller mountain, away from the lava pools that were taking over the horizon. "Shirou, what happened?"

I wanted to talk, but just staying awake was getting difficult. I could breathe somewhat better now, but not by much. My body was upright only because Akeno refused to let me go and I was using her as a crutch. Kiba came and supported me from the other side, but all I wanted was lie down.

"I don't think he's going to hold out at this rate, Buchou." The platinum blonde boy said. "We need to get him back to the human realm."

"You think it's the Underworld air?" She asked, but I could already feel the Prana around us.

"I don't know." He answered.

"Everyone, get together," She said. "Ise, I'll need a Boost."

"You got it, Buchou!" The brown haired boy said and his gauntlet was already announcing the boost being charged.

"Now!" She called and Ise touched her arm.

"Transfer!" A huge sigil involved all people present and I felt like we were moving even though I knew I wasn't.

The next moment we were all on Kuoh Academy's courtyard.

I felt a sharp pain in my chest and blacked out.

* * *

I was in a void of darkness, that somehow felt welcoming and soothing. I felt safe and at peace, not wanting to move or do anything while in there, but that didn't last long. I felt the same sensation I did when tracing a weapon, but I wasn't actually doing it. I focused on what was that feeling and the realized that I began to dream again. Or better saying I was remembering things, things that I didn't live through. In the one memory I'm reliving at the moment, I was fighting against another person that I'm sure I have never met. I summoned a monstruous sword, and used it as a bridge reach the side of a mountain where my enemy was. Illya was there, but her skin was tanned instead of pearly white. A moment later I was hugging a little girl, Illya's age, or apparent age. Relief and protectiveness mingled when I saw her face. Then I looked up and nothingness was my world once again.

The darkness this time had lights, like the stars on the night sky. And just like before nothingness turned into memory. This time I was fighting again, during the Grail War, but I was holding a sword I have never seen, I looked at it and instantly knew what the sword was, as always, but in the memory I felt like I already knew it. It was confusing to try and discern my own memory from the memories of the Emiya Shirou from the dream-memory. Another Servant appeared, different from all the others I had seen, holding a battle hammer and clad in a silver armor. One of her arms was completely metallic and her head was adorned with a helmet with wings at its sides, framing her pink hair. She waved her hammer up in the direction of Caster who was hovering over Ryuudou Temple and I was pulled out of the memory once more.

From memory to nothingness into memory again. But this time I was filled with dread. This one was closer to what I experienced, but still different. I was in the Einzbern forest that surrounds the castle on Fuyuki City, Rin was being held by Berserker with a massive hand, waving the tiny Magus by her torso. She moved her hand and threw several of her Jewels in the face of the Mad Servant, creating a explosion that made him throw her against a tree. Saber was beside me and I started to project Excalibur... no. It wasn't Exalibur. It was Caliburn, the Golden Sword of the Victorious. Detachedly I could detect that it had been a very poor job. When my memory-self tried to use it, one slash at the gray giant was enought to break it apart. My memory-self dodged aside, tracing the sword again, this time making sure every step of the projection was perfect before finally finishing the proccess. Saber came to my memory-self's side and they held the sword together.

Again, the memory cut off abruptly. I was awakened when I felt my head being lifted and opened my eyes. "Shirou!" My eyes drifted to the voice that was above me, but I could only see a black blur.

"Onii-chan!" A weight was deposited in my chest, and my head was put on something soft at the same time.

I blinked twice, trying to stave off the blurriness. "What happened?" I asked. "Where are we?"

I heard a switch being flickered and I closed my eyes immediately. "Sorry. We didn't even realize that the lights were off." I heard Kiba's voice.

"Yeah. We're on the Occult Research Clubroom." Rias said. "I'm not sure what happened exactly, but since you started bleeding out of nowhere when we landed here, we have some ideas."

"What?" I asked, forcing my eyes open. I was in the floor of the room, near the kitchen. Asia had both arms at my sides, trying to hug my torso, but my weight didn't let her force her arms around, so she settled to leave her head on my chest. My head was on top of Akeno's thighs, while the brunette kept silently watching over me.

"Embolism." Rias said. "We Devils don't have that problem, but you're human. You do."

I looked at her, trying to understand what she was talking about. Apparently seeing that I was still confused, Ravel who was beside Rias continued. "We were on top of a volcano on the Underworld. Marchosias must have put a barrier there to maintain it pressurized for you and his Magician. But when you killed him, the pressure stabilized fast, and with air rarefied, you started to suffer from the low pressure. That was probably what caused the eruption as well, but I'm not certain."

I blinked, absorbing the explanation. "Okay... But-"

"And I teleported us all directly here, at sea level." Rias said, apologetically. "With the sudden rise in air pressure your heart couldn't compensate fast enough, compounded by the nitrogen bubbles that formed in your bloodstream, and well... Basically, you had a heart attack."

Huh... A heart attack. Don't know how to feel about that. If I ever learn how to cast one of these teleportation spells, that's another thing I need to be aware of, I guess. "How long was I out?"

She shook her head. "Not long, actually. We performed CPR and Asia used Twilight Healing to heal the damage to the blood vessels. Though it was faster than I was expecting." She mused aloud, with a finger on her lip while looking away from me, before turning back again. "We just finished carrying you here and you woke up."

"How are the others?" I asked because I wasn't seeing anyone else.

"They are downstairs."

I closed my eyes, finally relaxing. "I need to upgrade my defenses. They invaded the house too easily." I admonished myself. "I didn't want to, but it looks like I'll have to do it."

"You'll do nothing for now, Shirou." The Shrine Maiden's voice was stern and scolding, but her eyes told me she was just worried. "Just take it easy for now, okay?"

"Okay, okay." Putting a reassuring smile on my face I looked at Akeno. "I'll wait until tomorrow at least." She gave me an exasperated sigh.

I looked back at Rias when she asked. "Shirou, what happened? Why were you on the Underworld?"

"Apparently someone didn't take no for an answer and tried to persuade me." I gave her a cheeky grin.

"What do you mean?" She knelt down, near me and Ravel, who kept standing behind her answered.

"Guypiat Antoine Marchosias." She said and everyone turned to look at her. "He was the last Marchosias, and apparently he wanted to recruit Lord Emiya into his Peerage."

"But he's blocked!" Rias exclaimed. "He's blocked by all the Maous."

"Yeah, well." I answered her. "It turns out that if it is a wager in a Rating Game, that can be bypassed, as long as I sign a Pact."

Everyone in the room pulled a sharp breath, but Rias was the one who recovered first. "Why in the name of the Maous did you sign a Pact with him!?"

"It was either that, or all the girls would be swimming in lava." I answered her seriously. "He didn't exactly leave me with a choice."

"But... But if I remember correctly, the last Marchosias didn't have a single Piece in his Peerage." She said knitting her brows.

Ravel took over again. "It wasn't a sanctioned Rating Game, Lady Rias. He used summoned beasts as his Peerage."

"I think he expected me to resign at some point, because he sent every single one of the beasts to attack." I completed. "Because it wasn't a sanctioned Game, there was no prepared arena, there was no revival possible. He was probably banking on that fact for me to make Ravel resign and lose on purpose. If he died, his beasts would disappear immediately. And he had six of those beasts as the only supports for the cages that were holding the six girls who weren't part of the Game over the lava pool."

She absorbed that for a moment, then asked. "Then how did you managed to do it?"

"I too was curious about that, Lord Emiya." Ravel echoed. "You signed a Pact that said you couldn't take any active part in the game or attack anyone during it. How did you do it?"

"Well," I thought about for a moment, before lifting my hand from Asia's head. The blonde still had her face buried on my chest, but was still hearing everything being said. I had gleaned this over with all of them already when I was explaining why we needed to fight that Rating Game. "I used this."

Rule Breaker appeared in my hand. "The Ceremonial Dagger?"

"The what?" The redhead asked.

"That was the Ceremonial Dagger he used during the ceremony he performed after the Rating Game with my brother." The blonde explained, turning back to me. "But I was paying attention to you at the time, Lord Emiya. You didn't chant anything."

I decided that it was better that they didn't know anymore about Rule Breaker than that. "As I said, I have my ways." I smiled at the girl and dismissed the dagger, then turned back to Rias. "After that it was just a matter of kill both Marchosias and the Magician at the same time, after having Ravel put the girls in position to catch the others when the beasts disappeared."

Only Ravel and Asia knew exactly what happened at that point, and only Ravel knew of my plan.

"I didn't know that it was possible to use that tactic." The blonde muttered, but it was loud enough to everyone to hear. "Declaring enemy territory inside my own territory."

"What?" Rias turned to look at her, then whirled back at me as the obvious culprit. "What did you do?"

"It was an unsanctioned Rating Game, in other words, it wasn't really a Rating Game, but a fight. The King was decided on the spot, the Peerage was picked from people who weren't linked to her. It was a highly irregular situation all around, so I thought that we could twist the rules a little more." I explained. "When Ravel had declared enemy territory, in reality I had actually already declared before the game started. That's why I told her to choose only Pawns linked to me. It worked in the end, so there's no problem with that." I said and began to pull myself upright again. Akeno didn't protest the movement but Asia finally managed to circle her arms around me. I patted her head again and she released me.

I took that opportunity to get up. Only now I saw that Ise and Kiba were bracketing the door, the blonde was frowning and Ise was looking at me with a strange look, as if he couldn't decide if he should worship me or kill me.

"Will this have any repercussions for me or the girls?" I asked. "If what he said is true, I just exterminated a Devil lineage."

"I don't believe it will. Guypiat wasn't a rightful Heir because he wasn't from the direct lineage." Rias answered. "He wasn't originally a member of the Clan, so the Marchosias bloodline was already extinct. Even if he did revive the Clan, it wouldn't be considered one of the Seventy Two Pillars."

"I see. That's good I guess." I scratched my cheek. "I have a history of destroying lineages. I didn't want to add to the list."

"What do you mean?" Rias asked, and I realized that Ravel was on the room and didn't know the implications.

"During my Bounty Hunts, sometimes some Magus from famous lineages don't like to have their targets taken out by a third rate like me, so they try to take me out along with the target. They had the habit of involving innocents on these skirmishes." I grinned knowingly at her. "I don't take that kind of thing well. And since sometimes these same Magus were the Heirs for their respective lineages, you can guess what happened." I shook my head. "Well, I think its time for us to get home. Unless you two want to stay?" I asked both Akeno and Asia.

The blonde immediately latched on my waist. "I'll come with you, Onii-chan."

"I'll go too." I heard Akeno's voice from behind me, before feeling her pulling my arm.

It was an awkward way to move, but in the end we've gone home that way anyway. For some reason the whole of Rias' Peerage came with us, so it looked like we were going to a party. Ise spent the majority of the time with that same look on his face, muttering something under his breath. When I tried to hear what he was talking about, one of the words was "Oppai" and the other was "Enviable". I stopped trying to hear after that.

I'm just going to stop trying to tempt fate and ask earnestly for a calm end for the day.

Who knows? It might listen for once.

* * *

During all my life if there's one thing that I learned well, and that I'll never forget is the fact that women can be scarier than a Dead Apostle Ancestor on a warpath. Scarier than facing Berserker while armed only with a plastic knife. Scarier even than Asia's puppy dog eyes.

...

What? Those things are worse than WMDs.

Anyway, when a woman puts something into her head, you better hope that whatever it is, it isn't related to you, or if it is, hope beyond hope that its a good thing, because once she gets into that state she can have a one track mind and don't stop until she finds the problem to either fix it, or beat it into a pulp. Considering that sometimes the only way to fix it is to beat it into a pulp, you can imagine why I equate women with a cause to walking into a minefield blindfolded while drunk.

Case in point.

"Target one is moving to the courtyard. Requesting permission to intercept." I heard Solveiga's voice through the headset.

"Denied." Akeno answered. "Shadow the target and see where he's going."

"Target two just left the classroom. Shadowing him." Chevonne's voice.

"Targets three and four are still on the front gate. No sign of movement." Astrid this time.

"Stand by." Akeno again. "All targets must be on the same position."

"Target one entered the gym." Solveiga again. "Requesting back up."

"Shadowing target one inside the gym." Sophie's voice. "He's at the stage. Wait. He opened a false door below the stage and went through. Lost visual contact. I repeat, lost visual contact."

"Target two walking in the direction of the Gym." Chevonne again.

"Targets three and four entered the school grounds." Astrid. "I'm going to lose visual in three, two, one."

"Targets three and four in range." Giselle cut off the other ex-Holy Maiden. "Beginning pursuit."

"Affirmative. Moving to point two-oh-four and awaiting orders." Astrid answered.

"Roger that." Akeno answered.

"Target two entered the gym." Chevonne reported.

"Target two in sight." Sophie whispered her response.

"Target lost, moving to point one-two-five and awaiting orders." Chevonne again.

"Target two went below the stage as well." Sophie whispered.

"All units, except the ones pursuing targets three and four." Akeno's voice was getting rougher. She was moving as well. "Assemble on points two-oh-four, one-two-five, two-two-four and oh-nine-four."

A round of acknowledgements came from the headset.

"Targets three and four entered the gym." Giselle reported. "They are suspicious of the movements. I may have been made."

"Abort and procceed to the safe area." Akeno ordered. "Everyone else, continue with progress to the points already covered."

"Targets three and four accessed the Gym." Sophie's voice again. "They are moving to the same hidden passage."

"Roger." Akeno again. "Cover all the exits. Shirou, they are boxed in. Take over?"

"No. Wait until they are finished, then ambush them at the exit." I answered in my own headset. "We need proof that they are culprits." Then I turned to Shitori who was sitting beside me on the Student Council Room. "Do you have that area covered?"

"Unfortunatelly, no. The false floor below the stage of the gym was supposed to be filled with junk." She grimaced. "I didn't even think in put a tap there."

"It's okay. I'll have to do this the old fashioned way, then." I said, putting my foot on the window. "Moving in." I said on the headset, and jumped down from the window, Reinforcing my legs and feet. I took off running in the direction of the Gym.

After that little trip to the Underworld a few things changed in the dorm. One of them was that I used every ounce of knowledge I had into upgrading my Bounded Fields around the house. Now, I could set them up to not only disinterest and noise barrier, but with the help of a good portion of my fundings, I could set it to be a mana isolation field too. Once active, it worked the same way as my Formalcraft isolation circle. The advantage of this layer of defense was that the registered signatures could still channel Mana that was being provided just for them by the Bounded Field itself.

The second thing that changed was that Ravel had convinced Karlamine, Marion, Sophie, Xuelan, Julie, Sylvi, Carlota, Naiara and Tomoko to be part of her Peerage now. A Queen, two Knights, two Rooks and four Pawns. Julie was lucky in her case because her Rook had Mutated and she would need either another Mutated Piece or be promoted to Queen to be able to be traded, and Ravel's only Mutated Piece was a Rook.

If I said that I was completely okay with them moving on to be with Ravel as their King I would be lying, but that was what I intended in the first place. I felt a sadness that I couldn't actually understand myself, but I took solace is seeing the long way Ravel came, after less than two weeks where she didn't have a single Piece, now had almost a complete Peerage. She only had four Pawns and two Bishops left.

Seeing almost all the girls that were formerly from the Phenex Clan back with them was a little disconcerting, but Lord Phenex had assured me that they would be treated fairly and he signed each and every single one of the contracts for the girls, with exactly the provisions I had mentioned before. They would be able to leave the Clan freely if they wished without any repercussion and they would get the right of veto if a trade was to be made with them, and even then, if a trade went through the contract would carry over. They would have to work harder to compensate for the provisions, but they accepted that as well. All in all, it turned out more like a job contract than anything else.

Mihae was the only one of the four that Ravel couldn't convince to come to her in the end. She was too leery to go back to the Phenex Clan, and actually I think that she wanted to continue to live with the Senri Clan, and had only come here to accompany the others. I say that because of the third thing that changed. Since Ravel had nine people as part of her Peerage now, we moved people around in the dorm and now the third floor of the dorm was only for the Phenex's Pieces, plus Mihae who wanted to continue living near her friends, and the ones that were living in the master bedroom in the main house all moved there as well. The main house felt a little emptier, with just me, Asia and Akeno, but they were just on the other side of the hallway so it wasn't that big of a deal. The rules still applied to them though, even Ravel. She was still expected to do her part on the dorm and she wasn't to use her Pieces to do her work for her. When I told her this, she looked at me offended. At the time I thought that it was because she was thinking that it was a given that her Pieces would do her work, but she surprised me again telling me that it was her work, and she would do it herself. I had to smile inwardly at that.

The dynamics inside the dorm would change with that move, that was obvious, but so far it hasn't been too different from before. In fact, aside from the fact that Karlamine, Xuelan, Marion and Mihae didn't live with us anymore, little changed over there. Karlamine and Xuelan still used my yard for their early morning training. Karlamine and Marion still came to drink tea with Akeno after dinner. Marion, Asia and Mihae still took care of the Senri Clan totem on the courtyard. Let's see how things go after some time has passed. It has only been three days after all.

The fourth change was only possible because of the girls moving out of the house. Even with my upgraded defenses, there was still a chance of things going wrong, so I converted the former master bedroom into a Panic Room, with safety features against both mundane and mystical attacks. The Senri Clan contractors' eyes bugged out when I told them what I wanted to do to convert the room, but as always, they worked fast and had already finished it two days after I told them what I wanted. I hope things never got ugly enough for the room to be necessary, but better safe than sorry.

The final change happened not exactly at the dorms, but with the girls. Even with several of them not being connected to me anymore through the Pieces, they were still overprotective to the extreme. I have no idea what brought this on, since they didn't have that connection with me anymore, but they simply couldn't let one thing go. The rumors about me. With the Peace Conference about to happen, they decided to take matters on their own hands and began investigating the whole thing. And after they presented me their findings I kind of had to agree with them.

The rumors were being manufactured by a third party and spread around using text messages on the phones, which I didn't even know it was possible, the school message board on the intranet, and other subtle tactics like whispered conversations that were just loud enough to be overheard by others. There weren't a single thread linking directly to the culprits of the rumors.

After hearing their plans, I wanted to make them stop trying so hard, but then remembered what happened with Marchosias. The blown out of proportion rumors about me had got them in trouble, and if it wasn't for the idiocy of the Devil in believing the rumors in the first place, we wouldn't have been able to get away from it unscathed.

After investigating further, and using some Devil magic inconspicuously, they had tracked down what they believe were the origin of the rumors. Four people, a first year, two second years and a third year. All of them students of the Academy. They have been tailing them since yesterday and now, after having spreading themselves out throughout the whole school, and involving both Rias' and Shitori's Peerages in the proccess, they finally boxed the culprits into where they believe was the place they used to create and spread the rumors.

I got to the gym and signaled to Akeno who was at the head of a group of six other people, and opened the door. "Maintain positions." I heard her voice again on the headset. "Once the door closes, everyone block the exits."

Once I was inside I waved to Sophie who was perched on the metal structure near the ceiling, hidden by the metal bars themselves. She waved back and I turned to the stage, keeping my feet light and walking slowly. When I was close enough to hear whispers, I Reinforced my ears, pulling a transmitter that Shitori had handed to me.

"...one of the girls was following us." One voice said.

"No way. I don't think so. She was just walking."

"No. I'm certain. We can't use this place anymore."

"And where else we could use. This is the only place we can access the school's intranet via wifi without anyone realizing we are doing it." A third voice this time.

"I think we are going too far with this." A fourth voice said, more quiet than the other.

"Ah, c'mon man. She rejected you because of that bastard. You have to get back at him." The second voice again.

"Bu-But a lot of the things we're doing is just making the girls from the dorm get more close to him." The fourth again. "I mean, I didn't even knew he was their savior."

I frowned at that.

"Savior my ass. That was probably another rumor that someone else started. That bastard only wants all the girls for himself." The first voice.

"Yeah, yeah." Two voices, probably the second and third.

"I don't want to do this anymore." The fourth said. "Tomoko-chan already rejected me. And I actually don't have anything against the guy."

Tomoko rejected a confession? I didn't even know that she had been one of the girls who had been confessed to in the first place. "You're in too deep now. If you quit, then we'll make sure he knows you're the one who said that he sleeps with all the girls in rotation, sometimes two at the same time."

"I-I-I..." The fourth voice stammered then breathed defeated. "So what are we going to say now?"

"Ravel-chan, she hangs around him a lot, but now she's hanging out with Sophie-sama and Julie-sama more than before. Maybe we can say that it was his twisted idea that the girls should be doing stuff with each other on school while he watched?" The third voice.

"That's kind of hot, actually." The first voice. "Maybe we can say that he divides the girls in groups by week, or hair color, or..."

I heard enough. I whispered on the headset. "Did you get all of that?"

"Some static and some words are pretty bad, but we heard enough, Shirou. Can we please punish these perverts now?" Akeno's voice was vehement on the issue.

I tried. I seriously tried to save you poor sods. See you in heaven. Or Hell. Whatever works for you guys. I jumped over the stage, making sure to make as much noise as possible. The voices from below stopped immediatelly. I traced cymbals, drew a simple rune similar to my alarm on them, and started to hit one against the other, Reinforcing my arms to add to the effect of the runes. For anyone else it would appear almost like I was a one man marching band on top of the stage. It took them three seconds to get out from under the false floor and onto the basketball court, before turning to me.

I smiled beatifically at the four, Matsuda and Motohama I was expecting, but I didn't know the first year, and the third year I knew only from gym class. I held the cymbals apart for a moment, before my smile widened even more. I hit them against each other one more time, and I appeared as though the sound had a physical force, because the four all but jumped back and began to run away.

Directly into the exit that Akeno was guarding. I dismissed the instruments. They didn't even know yet, but they were about to find out what happens when a group of girls could do with people they didn't like. When I heard the first scream I put both hands together and bowed in their direction. Rest in peace.

I reiterate my point. One woman alone is scary. Two dozen of them together? That's a recipe for disaster.

* * *

A few months ago I thought I had scared the Perverted Trio about not messing with any of the girls in my protection. I thought that they wouldn't try anything to get back at me. I thought they were scared shitless of me.

I was wrong.

I have no idea what the girls did to these four, but as soon as I got a foot inside the school gate, they were all prostrated at my feet, asking for forgiveness and that they would never do that again. Not even talk about it, or write about, or dream about it either. The look on their eyes were a mix of a thousand yard stare from war veterans and the look of abuse victims. Seriously, I made a point not to ask the girls yesterday what they did, but right now it got me curious. What kind of torture did they gone through to make such a hundred and eighty degree turn and act like that.

If I could learn, that would be one hell of a usefull skill on the field. The only thing stopping me from actually asking them was the cold shiver I felt in this warm morning originating from my back were the tenants of the dormitory were coming. Discretion is the better part of valour, so in the end I decided that it wasn't worth it to know and continued to walk as if there wasn't four boys prostrated in front of the school gate.

During homeroom today, Shitori came to my classroom and made a whole speech about unfounded rumors and the perils of believing in everything you hear, all the while not looking at me for a second. The same speech was being conducted in all the classrooms and the teacher's lounge simultaneously. Apparently the Student Council wanted to be throughout with the issue and end it once and for all. Having let even some of their own be swept by the rumors was bad enough, apparently.

What Saji wanted to talk to me all this time, it turns out was how did I managed to make so many girls fall for me hopelessly, and create my own harem. And that was the most tame of the rumors going on about me. There were things that I couldn't even imagine that could come out of a teenagers mind, but was wrong again.

Today was saturday, only half day of school, and since tomorrow was the Conference, not even club activities would be allowed. After the final bell, everyone was ushered home, the excuse this time was that the school would pass through disinsectization during the weekend, and school would resume on tuesday. I had to hand it to whoever comes up with these excuses. They always found something new to say to the students why they shouldn't come near the school during these times, though I still don't understand why they didn't simply used the excuse of the structural damage by the earthquake that I heard about before.

I was making a round of appraisal of the amphitheatre that was built in the back of the school just for this Conference and was pleased with the way the place was defensible. It was on high ground, had only three entrances, and had no structural flaws that could be used to bring the whole place down with anything less than a barrage of missiles or several pounds of explosives. None of the entrances had a line of sight to anything so no possible sniping position. The only real problem with the setup was getting to the place, as it was kind of out of the way, but once the dignataries were inside, only a mass teleportation or an assault by an army would be enough to overwhelm the defenses.

I asked Shitori about he wards around the place, if they could hold off a mass teleportation spell, kind of like the one Rias used to get us out of the Underworld, and she agreed with me that it was a necessary precaution and would take measures to see that it was implemented. The entrances were choke points and would help in defend the place but I was only one person, so I recruited Ravel and her newly formed Peerage along with the rest of the girls inside the dorm to guard each of the entrances, leaving at least three higher Pieces at each. I would wait on top of the amphitheatre, ready to move to any of the three entrances or to make a move anywhere needed.

We had a trial run, simulating an attack by an Army and another we were attacked by bombardment. Another simulation was to evacuate the dignataries. Even if they were the strongest their species had, they still would be vulnerable during the Conference, and would need to be protected, so we had to make evacuation drills as well. Ravel and Shitori were invaluable in that regard because one could manage several squads at the same time without getting flustered and Shitori had great insights into how things should play out and, specially, how things could go wrong. Shitori also offered her Peerage to be used as a third force in case they were needed, but we decided that they already had enough to do. My group would secure the outside of the amphitheatre and whoever the dignataries brought as personal security wouldn't be factored in at all, except as maybe possible hostiles.

Rias and Shitori's Peerages first and foremost task was to offer security inside the building, where only the representatives of the Three Factions would enter, while appearing to be there only as spectators. After doing several more drills well into the night, we left the place when the security from the Three Factions appeared. They would do their own sweep through the building and then maintain security through the night. Tomorrow, I would do another sweep just to make sure no one tried to do anything funny during their stay there.

Due to all of this, I hadn't cast my Beacon Spell again today. If it wasn't for the fact that I needed to use Avalon as a catalyst to cast the spell, I would leave it running twenty-four-seven, being powered by the leylines that passed through the property. But I wasn't comfortable with leaving one of my greatest trump cards lying around when I was not close enough to it. If I lost it, for one reason or another, I would never be able to cast the spell again, not to mention I would lose its properties as well.

The house today was kind of empty, with all the girls getting to bed early, it left me alone in the kitchen doing the dishes. I had invited both Shitori and Rias' groups to come eat with us, but they all declined, leaving me with just Asia and Akeno at the house. I couldn't even remember when it was the last time it was just the three of us around the table. With the four girls that were under the protection of the Senri Clan, now either back with the Phenex Clan or moving to the dorm, and since none of the girls from there came to eat with us inside the main house, it was a quiet affair. I could feel that Asia at least was nervous about something, but couldn't pin it down to anything until I asked her what was happening.

Several of the officials from the Heaven's side that were coming were people who excommunicated her and that was getting her on edge. I couldn't really do anything about that, only tell her to be true to herself and everything was going to be alright. I would be close the whole time and so would Rias and Akeno. I made a mental note to pull Ise aside the tomorrow morning in order to ask him to reassure her. It was a cheap trick, using her feelings about the boy to give her some courage, but I was not above to use it when the situation called for it.

To my surprise, and not at the same time, when I went to bed that night, Asia appeared on my doorway, hugging her pillow. She was still nervous and couldn't sleep so, I let her come inside and sleep with me. It was in times like this that she reminded painfully of Illya, of images I had of what would be like to have a sister growing up, that I couldn't deny the former Nun. She had started to be more open nowadays and was acting more like her age, but she was still in many ways a little girl who was sheltered her whole life. Asia was a strong person, stronger than she gave herself credit for, but she still had her own issues like any normal individual. I wouldn't deny her some degree of safety that I could offer. It was actually nice to be relied upon so much by her.

I was my turn to be on edge the next day. There was something not right in the air. I could feel the city was permeated with magical signatures that I didn't recognize and the feeling was daunting. I knew that it should be like this, that the dignataries would have their delegations, and I was expecting them to come later, via teleportation close to the time of the Conference, to minimize exposure. So either these signatures were from advanced parties or something else. The something else part was the problem.

The time every single one of the dignataries would be more exposed was when they were moving from the teleportation circle to the amphitheater, and I had been asked to personally escort each one to the waiting area of their Faction. As soon as I got to the place, I began my final check up, and discovered something worrying. At some point after my last check up, someone had put several mystic sigils all around the inside part of the amphitheater. Pulling Akeno discreetly, I asked her to examine the sigils, but she couldn't tell what they were for too.

Deciding to not take any chances, we destroyed all of them. I remember very well what happened the last time I found unknown sigil inside a building. I didn't want a repeat of the Blood Fort Andromeda, but since we wanted to do it with as little commotion as possible, I drafted Shitori, Hanakai, Mihae and Kusaka to finish the job while I kept checking around the place. There were also defenses placed inside each of the waiting rooms, but those were placed by the security from the dignataries themselves, so I left them there, only checking to make sure there weren't nothing similar to the sigils inside the amphitheater proper.

After going through the whole building again and making sure the structure was still solid, I moved to my position. The little sting operation the girls did against the four culprits of the rumors had the benefit of testing the communication system we were going to use during the Conference, so that was a plus. We wouldn't be needing to go over that part.

The girls were getting nervous as the time for the conference was getting near, and I couldn't exactly blame them. There were several ways that this could go wrong. I expected them to at least be civil with each other, but treachery was possible from all of them. I didn't expect that from the Heaven's representative, but the Church was part of the conference as well, and they had their own extremists. Making one last round of checks with everyone I moved to where the first dignatary would appear from and waited.

After three minutes, and several checks with my people, I gave the go ahead to the Devil in front me. A burst of Prana later a man appeared inside the area, and if I had to describe him in as few words as possible, I would say that he was an older male version of Rias. Red hair, greenish blue eyes and the regal posture I expected from a regent. He was wearing a crimson cape with the same color as his hair, that flowed down from two golden pauldrons with several spikes protuding from them. His eyes also told me something I should be expecting but didn't. He was a warrior, evaluating his surroundings as soon as he appeared, before nodding to his escort and began walking in the direction of the waiting area designated to the Devil representative. So this was Sirzechs Lucifer. The strongest Maou from all of them. I could feel why he commanded respect from the Devils, he was in a whole different level than both Levia-tan and Ajuka. If I had to make a guess, he could take both them on at the same time and win.

Accompanying them to the waiting area, I nodded to the six girls that would take care of this entrance making sure they were all okay. When Lucifer passed by them, they all had knelt down in deference, but I had to admonish them because now was not the time for that. They were here to maintain his security, and taking their eyes off the situation was not how they should do that.

Once Lucifer was inside the waiting area, I moved to the second point, and after another round of checks I nodded to the Exorcist in front of me, who I only realized afterwards, was Shidou. I hadn't seen the twintailed blonde since the Kokabiel incident, but at least she wasn't being openly hostile against me this time. Seconds later appeared an apparent young man, with silver blonde hair and green eyes, face somewhat androgynous but still distinctly male. Wearing a yellow gold armor over his shoulder with several ornaments and details in gold, a red and white vest and a golden cape. His face seemed to be sad, but his eyes told me the same thing as Lucifer. This was a leader and a warrior. This was the Archangel Michael, the de facto ruler of Heaven, after God's death.

I repeated the process to accompany his retinue to the waiting area and could feel the fear from the seven girls who were supposed to guard this exit. But their fear wasn't of Michael, actually. I could see that. They were fearful of what he would think of them now that they were no longer Holy Maidens. Thankfully, the man only nodded politely to them and went inside without further incident.

I checked with them one more time, before taking off in the direction where the last leader would appear from. There was only two people there, and one of them was a Devil. They both seemed to have some emnity with me, but for different reasons. One, the Devil, was barely holding back a battle lust that it sent me on edge just being near him. He was a young man with gray silver hair and light blue eyes, wearing a dark coat over a green shirt and black boots over a red and black pants. He also had a chain on the left side of his pants. The other man was a Fallen, on the same level of Kokabiel, and was eyeing me with open hostility. His violet eyes hard and narrowed in my direction. He had black hair and a beard framing his face, and was wearing a black cape over an equally black suit of armor with details in silver and gold. His signature scent was familiar and yet not at the same time.

I made another check around the position and nodded to them and a second later another man appeared at the position. With a red trenchcoat over an uncovered torso and gray pants, several belts adorned the body of the Fallen that appeared, his hair was jet black but with blonde bangs over and black beard framing his face. What set me on edge about this one was again his eyes. When the other two leaders appeared they were assessing the situation and the surroundings with the eyes of a warrior and a leader, this one watched everything with the same eyes a Magus would, with detached interest and analysing everything with a cunning that I associated with the Lords on the Clock Tower. Azazel, the leader of the Grigori. When his eyes looked at me, I almost traced and fired several swords on sheer principle. I didn't like to be looked at as a specimen like he was doing right now.

Dismissing the thought of skewering these three then and there, I turned my back to them and guided them to the last waiting room. At least the seven that were going to guard this entrance didn't react like the others before them. No fear or submission from them. Just maintaining their posts and keeping their eyes on the surroundings.

I waited until they were all inside the waiting rooms and did another check with everyone. It was time.

Reinforcing my legs I jumped over the ceiling of the place to get to my position, on the lookout over the amphitheater. There wasn't an actual lookout there, but a small platform that would suit my needs. Inside the place it was probably the most secure place in the world at the moment, what with three of the most powerful creatures in existence there, added to the already heavy security and all the perimeter checks I did before, placing alarm runes everywhere, I wasn't expecting any outside interference about this. The major problem would be an inside job, and the emnity I felt from both the guards accompanying the Fallen leader, Azazel, getting me on edge. I was expecting that if things were to go to hell, it would be from the inside.

So, an hour after everyone was inside the building, and I did another round of checkups with everyone on the entrances, imagine my surprise when I saw in the horizon what appeared to be a flying lizard. I thought that it was someone's familiar at first, but it kept getting closer and closer and, consequently bigger and bigger, until it was almost at the amphitheater and I had a good view of the beast. It was a Dragon. A honest to Akasha Dragon! I thought Dragons were extinct in this world as well, with their souls sealed on Sacred Gears like Ddraig and Albion, but I was wrong. This world was still at the Age of the Gods, and the Dragons existed well past that, until the Age of Heroes. I should have realized that sooner.

When the Dragon was in range of the amphitheater I heard a explosion from inside the place, and started to get reports about several unauthorized people appearing inside the place. That shouldn't have been possible, what with all the wards Shitori had placed inside, but apparently I was wrong. Making a judgment call, I asked for all the dignitaries to be evacuated from the place and took off in the direction of the Dragon.

It landed a few dozen meters away from the amphitheater moments before I landed in front of it. Going by what I was hearing on the headset, this dragon wasn't the only thing that appeared. Several humans, acting strangely according to some reports, were attacking the conference along with Devils. Gasper had been captured and they tried to use his powers on the people inside the conference but couldn't for reasons I couldn't discern. Ise and Rias were going to his rescue.

"Kiba, Quarta!" I called in the headset. "I need help at the east side. To every Pawn on my contract, I now declare this hill as enemy territory. Promotion allowed for the duration of the conflict."

"This will mark the end of this world. Today the world shall once again know the power of the Dragons and we'll return to the glorious times past." The Dragon boomed. "Mortals will bow once again to us, and the creatures that lurk in the dark and the light will cower in fear from our strenght!" The dragon had black scales and a yellow almost khaki colored underside. Four black wings and his mouth dripped with something that I couldn't identify, but seemed omnious enough to be flowing from the pointed teeth of the twenty feet tall creature.

During the speech, Kiba and Quarta appeared beside me, accompanied by Shidou. "Sempai!" The blonde swordsman called as soon as he got beside me. "What in the world is that?"

"A Dragon... No, an Evil Dragon." Shidou answered, for him and for me too. I had no idea that there were classifications for these beasts. But that was confirmation enough. Quarta had already summoned Durandal and Shidou had brought out Excalibur Mimic too. Kiba was about to call one of his swords, when I told them.

"Stop, I have a better idea." I concentrated. "Trace on." Dragon slayer swords are common in the myths, several of them are even unnamed, same are some blessed swords. I traced three blades in front of each of the them.

In front of Kiba floated The Betrayer. This sword was first owned by Ragnar Loõbrók, a legendary viking leader who in order to save his future wife from a dragon made a pact with Alaya and his sword was blessed with dragonslayer properties. Any cut made with this sword on any Dragon kin would be impossible to heal. The sword, unnamed at the time, become the known as The Betrayer, once it was used by Ganelon, who betrayed the Charlemagne's army to the muslims.

Shidou got The Blade of Inanna. Inanna was known as the Queen of Heaven. Sumerian goddess of war and combat, among other things. She blessed this sword and gifted to her paladins who battled in her name the Kur of Ebih, because she had been raped by the garndener Shukaletuda in her sleep, who turns out was a Dragon shapeshifted. This blade gets sharper and more durable the more powerful the dragon its being used against it is.

For Quarta, I traced the Yerevan Slayer. This sword was created using the scales of a dragon who died in Yerevan at the hands Vahagn, the dragon slayer god of Armenia. It was said that Heracles worshipped him and not Tyr, but that was disputed. This sword drinks the blood of any dragon who cuts it, cauterizing the wounds and disabling their regeneration, while getting more powerful from it.

The three squeaked when the swords appeared in front of them. "Use those. They are dragon slayers." I ordered them, without realizing that I was doing. Before I even had time to think in what sword I should call for myself, the dragon looked at our group and opened his mouth. A gout of something came in our direction, and I didn't have time to think anymore. "Rho Aias!" I called and the seven petaled shield almost didn't hold on to the attack. Rho Aias was the perfect shield agaisnt projectiles, but not against breath attacks apparently. Problem was that it was the biggest shield I had in my arsenal in order to defend against the darkness that the creature was spewing against us.

I was about to bark orders again, when a mist enveloped me. I knew what this was. It happened two times before. Georg, of the Hero Faction. I didn't have time to do anything else, though. In a instant the area around the amphitheater was empty, and I was alone in the place. Except for other four power signatures. And I recognized their scents. Cao Cao, Georg, Jeanne and Siegfried.

"I don't have time for you guys right now." I said to the empty air. "Either show yourselves or let me out of here. There are people in danger."

"Those are not people." I heard Cao Cao's voice from somewhere in the woods. "Even the ones that are human sold their souls to the supernatural, they don't deserve to continue living anyway." He appeared from behind one of the trees, that again should be too thin for him to be hiding behind, and started walking in my direction. We were at least a hundred yards away from one another. "It's a shame that you didn't want to join us." He stopped and Jeanne and Siegfried appeared from the sides of the amphitheater, Jeanne on my left, Siegfried on my right. Georg was away from the place, and I could barely make out his signature.

"The only thing I care about is protecting the innocent from pointless fights between creatures that have more power than common sense." I told the boy, already thinking about what should I do in this situation. They weren't taking me on yet.

"Innocents." The boy chuckled. "Are you telling me that the cadre of girls on your house are innocents? Or maybe the Devils on the school?"

"If you knew their history, you wouldn't be saying that." Then I tilted my head to the side, crossing my arms. "Or maybe you would. You are like a kid you know?"

"Oh? I'm a kid?" His smile had edges to it. "How so?"

"Not just any kid, you are worst than a spoiled brat." I shook my head, putting both my hands at my sides, ready to trace again. "You have to get what you want, no matter the cost."

His smile dropped, and he narrowed his eyes. "And why do you say that?"

"Simple. Your letting a bunch of people be slaughtered back there while keeping me here." I narrowed my eyes back at him.

"What you call what I want, I call strategy." He said again, smiling returning to his face. "Why not let the scum of the supernatural cull their own numbers while we keep ours hands clean?"

"There's a freaking Dragon with ideas of destroying humanity there." I narrowed my eyes at him. "Now, are you letting me out of here, or should I just kill Georg?" He narrowed his eyes at me again. "Either that'll keep us trapped here forever or we'll all be released. It's a fifty fifty shot that I'm willing to take."

"You'll do no such a thing!" The girl lunged at me with her rapier and I didn't have time to talk anymore. Tracing Kanshou and Bakuya, I saw that Cao Cao crossed his arms and felt Siegfried coming closer as well. I parried her first strike to the side and swept with Bakuya aiming for her left flank, but she twisted away from the blade. "So you'll attack a girl as well? Good to know."

"If you had been around as many strong women as I have in my life, you wouldn't be surprised." My answer came with the clang of Kanshou parrying a strike from Siegfried at my back. I Reinforced my clothes and body to the limit and jumped back.

"Did I tell you about my Sacred Gear?" The man said, while getting into a stance. "Twice Critical, it doubles my power." The man said, obviously trying to distract me. I got a glimpse of all the swords he was carrying. Gram, Balmung, Nothung, Tyrfing, Dáinsleaf. Every one of them with a different legend from the ones I had in my Marble, with slightly different powers, legends and properties.

I jumped back when another thrust from the blonde rapier user came at me from the side. Cao Cao was still quiet, just watching. I needed to do something, and fast. I couldn't let this skirmish draw out. I needed something fast enough to be able to overcome two expert sword users, one of them who had multiple Noble Phantasms. Grimacing, I jumped away from them one more time, not letting them use their number advantage against me. Dismissing Kanshou and Bakuya.

"Oh, don't give up yet." The woman cooed. "We are just getting started."

"Giving up?" I asked, a smirk making his way to my face. "Hardly, its just that it's the first time I'll be using this, so I want to make sure its right." I traced my bow and another sword on my left hand.

"What?" Siegfried looked disbelievingly at the sword I traced then at his waist, but by the time he looked at me again, I had already altered the sword into what I needed. The distance between the two of them and me was aproximately fourty feet. More than enough time for them to dodge. "What are you?" He said, narrowing his eyes.

"I said before. I'm not a fighter. I'm a killer." I began charging the arrow on my bow. "I don't have time to play games." I fired the sword, directly at the feet of the blonde girl. She tried to jump away, but it was too late. The effect had already been called the moment the projectile left my bow. An icicle jutted out from her feet, skewering her in the midsection, her eyes looked at me with disbelief before they fell lifeless. Dáisleaf, in my world it was a magic sword made by dwarves and given to King Högni before the battle of Hjaõningavíg. It was said that every time it was bared form its scabbard, it was to kill the enemy, as no wound made by it could be healed. The version in this world was a demonic sword, that had been presented to Sigurd before his demise, and could create pillars of ice wherever the user wanted.

Before the girl's eyes were even closed, I had already traced Kanshou and Bakuya again and was charging Siegfried. He pulled a second sword, Tyrfing, and blocked both my strikes with it and Gram, before sweeping at me with Gram and I had to duck down and roll out of the way. He struck again and I parried the strike with Kanshou, before making a slash at his midsection with Bakuya. I could feel from his swords that he was a master swordsman. Different from the others, he had another trick up his sleeve. I knew because there was a incongruity on his style. He could use more swords than just two at the same time. I pulled back, and decided not to waste time to see what tricks he had with him anymore. If he could somehow control his swords like Julie could her Shields, then this could be troublesome.

I needed something that could strike him with overwhelming power.

No, that wouldn't work.

Gram would protect him from any attack that wasn't based on simple strikes. Then faster attacks. Nine Lives Blade Works could be used but it would take too much time to charge in pitched battle, with an enemy that could use more than one sword it was practically suicide. Berserker sword-axe was too unwieldy to be used like that. I needed something else.

Going over my weapons, I finally decided on one. Dodging another strike from Gram, I somersaulted, overcharged both Kanshou and Bakuya, before throwing both at him. Before my feet even touched the ground I had finished tracing another blade. The skill I could empathize from this sword had only one in a thousand chance of working, but it was the best I could come up in such short notice. Feeling the unfamiliar weight in my hands I got in position, holding the blade with both hands, bending my knees. Siegfried must have realized that something was wrong, because he paused. I couldn't blame him. I just gave up my advantage with two swords for a single, unwieldy, odachi.

This Japanese longsword was used by the anonymous swordsmaster that was called as a Servant during the Grail War. With no real legend to his name, but rather being a fictional character called Sasaki Koujiro, this swordsmaster was able to create a techinique that bent the laws of reality. While his legend was fake, his skills were real enough to be engraved on this sword, Bizen Osahune Nagamitsu. It was also known as Monohoshi Zao, and this technique is said to be able to kill a flying swallow diving at the speeds that the eye couldn't see.

That pause from my opponent was the last mistake that he made. I stepped forward and called. "Tsubame Gaeshi" The technique that breaks reality, transforming a single stroke of the blade into three slashes, boxing in the opponent into the attack. Few would be able to even understand the nature of this technique, let alone be able to block or dodge it.

Siegfried's reaction was different than what I expected though. He blocked the first strike with Gram, and the second with Tyrfing. The third strike, aimed at his chest though wasn't blocked in time. It pierced his chest and gouged a large chunk on his third arm.

Wait. Third arm?

My eyes widened at what I saw. At some point during the attack, four scaly arms appeared from behind his back and one of them tried to block the last strike from Tsubame Gaeshi, but didn't in time. That pause was a error for me as well, since another of the arms was holding Nöthung slashed at me, cleaving deeply into my thigh, reaching the bone. Only my Reinforcement earlier had been enough to not have my leg cut off cleanly. The impact sent me flying to the side and I landed sprowled against the fake amphitheater's wall.

It took me a second to regain my breath while I watched as the man fell down on his kness, trying to keep himself upright using both swords on his normal arms as crutches, but it took only a few moments and his eyes closed lifeless, letting him fall on the ground in between his swords.

The whole confrontation with both the swordsman and the rapier user took maybe twenty seconds. I was winded from having hit my back against the wall, and my leg wasn't responding well to me anymore. Forcing myself up, putting my body weight against the wall, I turned back to CaoCao, who had an indescribable look on his face. I don't know if it was regret, rage, disappointment or complacency. Or a mixture of them all. I didn't wait to discover. I was in bad condition, and with two others still alive in this place, I was at a great disavantadge.

"Are you let me leave this place now, or should I really kill everyone?" I asked the man, with as much bravado as my position let me.

He narrowed his eyes at me, then at the bodies of his comrades. "I'll kill you now." He didn't say with any kind of veangeance or rage in his voice. Only calm assurance that there was no way for me to do anything against him. A spear appeared on his hand. "Do you know what this is?"

By the way I couldn't glean anything over the spear, it could only be one thing. A Sacred Gear. Great, and from the power I was feeling from it, I had no chance against it. "No." I answered as I finished my positioning, putting my whole weight on my right leg, while tracing the bow one more time. "Do you realize that you are a hypocrite, CaoCao? I mean, you've been saying all those things about the power of humanity, but here you are, using a weapon that was bestowed upon humanity by God."

He shrugged and didn't answer me. Didn't even acknowledged what I had said.

"Look, if you don't let me out of here," I answered tracing another sword. "you're going to discover what this does."

Altering the sword into another projectile I notched at the bow. "What is your Sacred Gear, Emiya Shirou? It's not Sword Birth or Blade Blacksmith. We already went over every possible scenario. There isn't a Sacred Gear that lets you call so many different types of weapons."

I chuckled, even as I charged the weapon. If he wants to talk, then it works well for me as well. I took aim. "What I have is something called Unlimited Blade Works." When I felt the weapon finished charging I said. "As for what it does exactly... "

He put the spear in a defensive position. It didn't matter. My target was locked, the arrow that had charged completely went above what it was possible for itself. It had became Broken.

"Go to the red plains, Scarlet Hound." I released the arrow, aiming close enough to him for him to dodge to the side.

"Your aim is off, Emiya Shirou." He said, without moving, just as the arrow passed through less than a foot from the side of his face. "Wouldn't that tarnish the name you made for yourself as an archer?"

"I never miss a target." I answered him, dismissing the bow, and letting my body fall back against the wall again.

A moment later, Georg appeared beside Cao Cao, eyes wide and panting hard. "What was that?" He said looking at me. "You couldn't have targeted me from your position. I wasn't even in this pocket dimension."

"What do you mean, Georg?" Cao Cao asked, slightly confused by the appearance of his comrade.

"He means that my arrow, wasn't targeted at you, Cao Cao, but at him." I answered.

"How?!" The bespectacled boy asked.

"I banked on the fact that throughout all of this you were still inside this dimension, so either you were curious, or you needed to be somehow connected to this place in order to hold it together." I answered. "I made a bet on the second choice. And since you seem to be connected, I could target you. Its over, Georg."

He looked at me disbelievingly for a moment, and was about to open his mouth to say something when a red streak pierced through his chest, exploding his body from the back. His eyes went wide for a moment, before the whole place began to destabilize. That was Hrunting, the Hound of the Red Plains. It was one of Beowulf's magic swords, said to get stronger the more blood of its enemies it drank. I preferred to use it as its other moniker, the Red Hound, once Broken and fired, as long I keep aiming, it will hit its target, almost as sure as Gae Bolg would pierce the heart once called. The difference between the two was that I didn't need to see the target to activate Hrunting, like I needed with Gae Bolg. Just the power signature was enough for me. The only caveat I had with it was that I needed to chant, charge and Break it before firing it.

The pocket dimension we were in broke as if it was made of glass and we began to fall from a thousand feet in the air. Down there what I was seeing was a war zone. One one side, three people were still battling the Dragon. From my position they seemed like ants running around claws and wing sweeps. At least those three were still alive, if that battle was anything to go by. On the other side, several people were being held back by the concentrate attacks from all sides. They were using barriers around the Amphitheater, holding it in place while what appeared to be Devils using every type of magic under the sun attacked. On the last of the three entrances, two powerful creatures were battling. I think it was Azazel and one of his own bodyguards.

At least now I knew who was the insider. But all of this wasn't going to help me at moment. I had one mangled leg, was falling fast, and Cao Cao was still in range to attack me with his spear. Either I would be dead before I hit the ground, or the impact would do it for me. To my slight relief, Cao Cao made a move with his hand and disappeared from the air. I almost thought that he had teleported to the ground, but I was wrong when scanning the place I didn't find him anywhere.

I didn't have a chance to survive this fall, not without another body to break the fall like it happened with Heracles. Siegfried, Jeanne and Georg's bodies were too far away from me, and I didn't have anything in my arsenal that could help me drag one of them to me in time.

Two hundred feet. Time was running out, but the voices coming from the earpiece that out of nowhere began to work again was enough to make me feel assured that most if not all of my comrades were alright. A random thought occurred to me at that moment. I would end up following Archer's footsteps in the end, dying on a hill, during a fight against impossible odds.

A hundred feet. My solution appeared in the form of three tons of dragon who jumped out of the way of someone attacking him and right in my falling path. If it didn't move in the next three seconds, I would land exactly on its head. If I had to die, then at least I would take this beast with me. My resolve sharpened, I called the Drachenloch. Positioning the spear and my body so it would use the whole momentum of my fall into its head, I just waited. Quarta was the first to realize that out of nowhere I had appeared in the air and jumped out of the way. Shidou copied the movement a moment later. Kiba was already away from the beast.

The dragon, seeing the moment as a respite on the attack it was receiving, reared his head back, only be met with nine feet of steel and barbed protuberances in the snout. My momentum was somewhat dimished by this, but it still had enough force to pin the dragon's head to the ground, making it unable to move. Not because it didn't want to, but because it couldn't.

This was the spear used by Heinrich Von Winkelried, that had been banished from his village for manslaughter. His legend says that if he killed the dragon who lived up near the top of Mueterschwandenberg, who had been terrorizing the region destroying the cattle and the houses, he would be allowed back into Wilen. He barbed the spear using scrap metal he found on his way to the dragon's lair. During the fight, after stabbing the dragon in the mouth with it, he was able to kill it by hacking at it for two days and two nights with his sword. During the process the spear drinked the blood of the dragon and now, once impaled on a dragon kind, can transfix it into not being able to move.

The wind got knocked out of me once my body hit the dragon head, but at least I didn't turn into a pancake on the ground. My partially hacked leg didn't have the same luck though. The bone broke, keeping it connected just by the flesh that was already on the mend. I rolled my body away from the beast, and started to scoot back away from it. Once I was far enough away, I sat back up, trying to evaluate the battlefield. Kiba, Quarta and Shidou were all there, looking wide eyed at me. Ise and Rias were coming from the direction of the school grounds, Georg, Jeanne and Siegfried's bodies, or what was left of them, were all around the place.

"Kiba!" I barked out, in the same tone I did when making orders during training. "Grab Gram over there!" I pointed to the circle of swords, that had fallen strangely enough all staked in the ground like they were demarking a grave, around what was left of Siegfried's body. "It's a dragon slayer sword stronger than what I gave you before."

The boy didn't even questioned, and I don't know how, but he grabbed the right sword from the five that were there, before Quarta looked at me. "But you already killed it."

"No, Drachenloch doesn't do that much damage! It just pins it in place, and transfix the it into not being able to move." I answered the blunette. "Now hack at it. Hurry, I don't know how much time I'll be able to hold on to it projected."

"Shirou!" Rias voice came from beside me, already kneeling. "What happened, we lost contact with you five minutes ago." Then she hissed when she saw my leg.

I looked at her, then at the back of Ise, who stood in front of us, protectively guarding in the direction the other three had run off to attack the downed dragon. I felt quite proud of the way the kid was acting. It was something else to see him grow from the perverted boy who was out only to satisfy his lust, to the young man that, even though was still a pervert at heart, could let these things aside when the chips were down.

"Oppai... Buchou's Oppai... After this... Buchou's Oppai..." I heard him muttering and felt my mental image of him crumble. Still a long way to go with this one. Well, at least it seemed that everything was going well.

"Status report!" I barked on the headset. After a round of 'Shirou's' and 'Shirou-sama's all relieved I began to receive a report of the situation.

"All the dignitaries have been taken out of the premises, except for Azazel who's battling Vali Lucifer, Michael who's helping treat the injured and Lucifer-sama who's helping on the Devil entrance." Shitori began. "The Amphitheater is safe, all the safety features we implemented worked, but the entrances were taken over at one point by the enemy. We already expulsed them to the outside, though."

"Sophie here, from the Angel's entrance. All clear." The Queen began. "No hostiles in sight, but we request medical assistance. Two Church officials were injured."

"Ravel here, from the Devil's entrance. All clear, no injuries. We received additional help from Lucifer-sama." The Phenex reported.

"Margareth here, from the Fallen's entrance. All clear, except for Azazel-sama and Vali's fight ongoing on the outside. Receiving additional help from the Fallen's side as well." Her voice was tenser than I expected. "No injuries on our side, but the enemy seems to be mindless humans."

"Acknowledged." I said through gritted teeth when I felt Avalon start to knit my bone. "There's a Dragon on the outside so everyone who's in charge of the barriers around the amphitheater redouble your efforts. We have it downed for now, but I don't know for how long." My head was swimming at this point. "I'll probably lose consciousnesses in the next few seconds." My voice was coming labored and, as if to punctuate my statement, I coughed up blood. "Shitori, take over the monitoring."

"Emiya?!" The voice that came from the headpiece was more of a shriek than anything else, before schooling it back into a normal tone. "Roger that!"

I looked at Rias who had cradled my head when I began to cough up the blood. "Rias, take care of everything out here."

The girl looked frightened for a second, before nodding.

I let my body fall down, feeling the weariness take over my consciousnesses. I couldn't pass out, not yet. Not while there was still a Root be damned dragon pinned by Drachenloch and at least Quarta and Shidou were still using my swords to hack at the beast. It took almost five minutes, but the end result was a very mangled beast bleeding on the ground, against the wall of the amphitheater.

Rias started to bark orders, and I finally let the spear disappear. It shouldn't be so hard to maintain it, but at the moment I was drained. The Mana in the air was doing wonders to me, but with my leg on the mend, I couldn't do much.

Kiba was the first to come close enough to see the state my leg was, and I was continuing to monitor the events through the earpiece. Someone said something about a Beelzebub, so I think Ajuka had come to help as well. That was good, two Maou level fighters on our side was something that could tip the scales on our favor, but a second later an explosion in the direction of the Devil's entrance and lack of report from there made me rethink that assessment. The explosion drew everyone's attention in that direction as well, but not mine.

I was seeing something that it shouldn't be possible. The wounds on the dragon had healed themselves. The swords they used on the beast should ensure that any wound suffered would be permanent but the creature was healing. When I realized what that meant, all I could do was yell. "Look out!"

It came a second too late, as the dragon's paw swept over our position, sending the six of us sprawling on the ground. I hit my back against a rock, and slid it down, to a sitting position. When my eyes come back into focus, the dragon was on his back legs, maintaing itself in a upright position. "I'm Niðhöggr, the Abyss Rage Dragon, and now that I was blessed by the Ourorobos Dragon, I'm immortal. Nothing can kill me. All you insects did was make me even angrier. Now you will all die without being able to witness the greatness of the new age!"

Great. Another so called immortal. How many of these pretenders are going to appear until this world is satisfied. Seriously, it's like every other month one of these appear.

"You are all going to die now!" He reared his head and opened his mouth again. Time slowed to a crawl. At my right, Rias and Ise were still downed. At my left Kiba and Shidou. On top of the rock I was leaning against, I could feel Quarta. No one of us would be able to dodge a breath attack from this beast at this range. Rho Aias wouldn't be able to hold it off again.

Realization came in flash.

They would die.

They wouldn't be able to escape.

Then this dragon would attack the others.

They would be killed by this beast.

I felt the now familiar sensation of my mind breaking again. Memories that weren't mine flooding my brain. In the span of a tenth of a second, I found what I wanted. Only one person in all history would be able to use this. No one else, but I felt it again, as I felt with Agni Gandiva all those months ago, it wanted to be used, wanted for its purpose to be fulfilled.

Wanted to protect.

Time again began flowing normally and I used everything I got to pull my body forward, in front of everyone. The mass of visible darkness came from the Dragon's mouth directed at us. I could feel it in my skin. Nothing in this world could survive this. Nothing would be able to withstand its black flame. Anything that touched it would disintegrate.

I put both my hands in the direction of the attack and yelled out. "Avalon!"

Avalon, the Everdistant Utopia. Saber's sheath. Excalibur' scabbard. The same Avalon that sleeps conceptualized inside of me. When used as a scabbard, it heals wounds at a slow rate, granting temporary immortality to the rightful wielder, but only one person was ever recognized by it as its rightful owner.

Saber. Arturia Pendragon. The King Arthur of the legends.

Avalon had another power, that only Arturia could call upon, as its rightful owner. It protected her and everything around her from any and all harm. When called as a conceptual weapon, it was known as the 'Absolute Defense'. Completely shields the user in the domain of the fairies, Avalon, the Unreachable Utopia dreamed by Arturia and said to be the realm to where she would be gone to once she died. In practice, it dissipates countless particles of pure power in the air and envelopes the user and everything in his vicinity into a bounded field that connects to the domain of the fairies and keeps all filth from the outside world out.

I have no idea why Avalon responded to me in such a way, or if it deemed the cause we're fighting worthy enough to be called. It worked in my favor in this case. I'm only able to call upon it in the spent state I'm in because I had Avalon with me my whole life. I hardly need to use any Od to call it.

When the onslaught was finally over, I stumbled once, putting weight on my mangled leg without realizing. Seconds gone by, and if a dragon can make a disbelieving face, I think I saw one on this black beast. In the end, I couldn't maintain my body upright and fell backwards, onto something soft. I have no idea what or who it was, but at the moment I felt safe, just feeling this scent.

Peaceful.

My consciousness had started to flicker in and out. My leg was still mending, but I at least could feel it better now. At one point I saw the swords jutting out from it, but in the next moment I was seeing Ise, with his whole left arm with a scaly red armor punching the dragon. Another flicker and he was completely enveloped in a red armor that resembled a Dragon. A sense of dread washed over me but the next flicker and my face was full of blonde hair that I think it was Asia by the scent and the relief on my leg.

When my consciousness finally came back into focus completely, there was several people standing around, some I recognized, some I didn't. Lucifer, Azazel and Michael were having a small conference between them. Seriously, if that was all that was needed why the whole affair with this Peace Treaty? Rias was holding Ise to her chest to the side, the kid's body appeared to be mangled, but at least he seemed alive. Asia was sitting beside him, both her hands glowing green over him. Ravel was barking orders more to the back, and another sigh of relief washed over me when I saw several of the girls from the dorm were there. They were banged up, but were all alive and okay. On my back, something that I began to get accustomed to. Akeno was holding my head to her chest, her hands glowing while she passed it over my body.

"What happened?" I asked with a voice raspier than I intended, pulling a hand to my head. I swear I gave myself a stroke, again, with all that happened. It had been years since I needed to call so many Noble Phantasms in sequence like I did today.

"Shirou!" The brunette didn't answer and only pulled me tighter into a hug.

"Hey..." I answered weakly at her reaction. A second later I had two pairs of green glowing hands over me too.

"Onii-chan!" Asia had jumped from her position and practically tackled me, even though I was already on the ground.

"I'm okay. Don't worry." I told the blonde who apparently forgot what she was doing in order to nuzzle her face on my chest. "Keep helping Ise and Rias." I patted her head while looking at them both. "They seem to need it more than me."

She nuzzled once more in my hand, then smiled brightly at me, before going back to the pair. Her shout though was enough to bring attention to the rest of the onlookers that I was awake. Quarta, Kiba and Shidou were the first to appear in my field of vision. Shidou and Kiba kept standing, but for some reason Quarta knelt in front of me, looking worriedly at the state my body was.

"Sempai! What was that?" Kiba asked, disbelief complete on his face. It was rare to see him so out of it. I had to chuckle at that, but by doing that, I had actually hacked once the sound got to my throat. When I got my reaction under control I asked.

"Which part? The part where I gave all of you Dragonslayer Swords, the part where I skewered the Dragon with a spear that locked it into place, the part I gave you another, stronger, Dragonslayer Sword, or the part where I used a conceptual shield that I shouldn't have been able to?" I listed to him. "Oh, or the part I was transported to another dimension?"

"What?" I heard both Akeno and someone else, who I don't know who it was, say from behind me. It was a male voice, older.

"Be specific." I said in the end. "And no one explained yet what happened once I was out."

"Issei-kun fought the dragon after selling his arm to Ddraig." Akeno said. "He managed to defeat it once we destroyed Ophis snakes that were inside the Dragon granting him his regeneration. Ascalon wasn't enough against this Dragon."

"I see..." Wait... What? "Selling his arm?" I asked incredulously.

"Sempai! What was that!?" Kiba again asked, without letting me understand what happened with Ise. "From where did this sword came from?" He showed me Gram.

I looked around but from my position I couldn't see Siegfried's body, and since the Shrine Maiden refused to let me move my head more than a few centimeters I couldn't scan the whole field. "I fought some people on a pocket dimension and one of them had those swords with him." I said pointing in the general direction where the body had fallen. "Also, what Ascalon?"

"That's Issei-kun's sword. He received from Michael before the Conference." Akeno explained, and I tilted my head to the side. Or tried to, the girl wasn't letting me move. "I thought that he had told you."

"No. Never heard of it." At least not the Ascalon of this dimension. Judging by Durandal and the Excaliburs, if I had to guess it would be another sword that had a different legend. "Why did he used it then if it wasn't enough? He isn't that good with swords."

"It is a Dragon Slaying sword used by Saint George." She answered again. "He tried to use it, but it wasn't enough." My eyes drifted back to the pervert receiving the ministrations of both Asia and Rias, but didn't see a sword around him. Either he lost, it broke, or it was somewhere out of my field of vision. Or, maybe this sword had a pocket dimension to be stored like Quarta's Durandal.

Speaking of which. "Did the swords I gave you all worked at all?"

It was a doubt that I had. How in the world did the Dragon managed to get up after being attacked with three Dragon slaying swords, four if count Gram, five if you count Ascalon. "They did, but they disappeared when you blacked out." Quarta answered. "But what we want to know was that aura you called before passing out."

"I never felt such a pure Holy aura." Shidou said while kneeling down beside Quarta in front of me. "Not even inside the Sistine Chapel."

It took me a moment for me to remember. "That was the Everdistant Utopia. The Absolute Fortress. It envelopes the area around the user with particles and shields it from anything that can cause harm, transporting temporarily the area to the realm of the Fae."

Shidou voice's was choked and she was shedding tears at this point. "Avalon..." Quarta too seemed taken aback, and even Michael stopped talking on the background, garnering attention from everyone in the vicinity to the Exorcist.

"That's why you felt so strongly against the Excaliburs..." Quarta seemed to make some kind of connection there. "If you have the Sheath is obvious you would know the sword it belongs to as well."

It wasn't a bad assumption, but completely wrong in the end. "Your Sacred Gear... You said you didn't have one... You were lying weren't you?" Shidou again.

"No. I was not. Avalon isn't a Sacred Gear." I answered them seriously. "I don't have a Sacred Gear."

"He's right." Another voice came from behind them all. The Fallen, Azazel. "I scanned him as soon as I saw him. He doesn't have a real Sacred Gear. But his Soul is quite different from what I'm used to scan too. It seems older than it should be."

I forced myself to chuckled at that, while Akeno stiffened behind me. "I'm an old soul, huh?" Not really an inaccurate assessment. "So, when will someone give me an account of what happened here? So far I only know that you were fighting someone named Vali, Ise here killed a Dragon, the Hero Faction was somehow involved and Gasper had been kidnapped at some point."

"We'll have a debriefing about the whole event in a few days. Right now, Sirzechs, Michael and I are hammering out details to when and how." The Fallen answered, and I let my head fall again, breathing relieved.

"I see." I answered before taking a hand to my ear. "Report." I called, my consciousnesses waning again.

"All clear in all sectors." Shitori's voice came. "We're making a final sweep for stragglers."

"Good." I answered, then turned my head just enough to see the violet eyes of the Shrine Maiden. "If it's all the same to you, I'm tired..." The slightly watery but reassuring smile I received from her was all I needed to let the last thread of counsciousness that was holding me awake be cut.

I was asleep even before my mind caught up with the fact that my leg, through all of this, had already been healed.

* * *

 **A/N:** Before anyone asks. I know Avalon doesn't work that way. The Absolute Fortress is described as being different, shielding only Saber, but for this fic I changed it to work like this. The reason will be explained in the future. Also, in several of the Arthurian Legends it was said that King Arthur managed to save his entire army from a rout while fighting alone. Mixing it with the description of the Noble Phantasm, I think this could be one of its properties.

 **Noble Phantasms**

 **Name** **: Drachenloch  
** **History** **:** A spear used to pin a dragon against a mountain while the user hacked away at it with his sword.  
 **Properties** **:** While it is considered a Dragon Slayer, the damage it does is actually quite minimum. It's purpose is to immobilize the target speared with it.  
 **Type** **:** Anti-Unit (Special)  
 **Rank** **:** C  
 **Range** **:** 2~3  
 **Targets** **:** 1  
 **Owner** **:** Heinrich Von Winkelried

 **Name** **: The Betrayer  
** **History** **:** A legendary viking leader who, in order to save his future wife from a dragon, made a pact with Alaya and his sword was blessed with Dragonslayer properties.  
 **Properties** **:** Damage by this sword on any living being that has Dragon ancestry will never heal normally. Only a Noble Phantasm of greater Rank can heal damage done by this sword.  
 **Type** **:** Anti-Unit (Special)  
 **Rank** **:** C  
 **Range** **:** 1  
 **Targets** **:** 1  
 **Owner** **:** Ragnar Loõbrók and Ganelon

 **Name** **: The Blade of Inanna  
** **History** **:** Innana was the Sumerian goddess of war and combat, among other things. She blessed this sword and gifted to her paladins who battled in her name the Kur of Ebih, because she had been raped by the garndener Shukaletuda in her sleep, who turns out was a Dragon shapeshifted.  
 **Properties** **:** The more powerful the Dragon it is used against, the more sharper and durable the blade becomes.  
 **Type** **:** Anti-Unit (Special)  
 **Rank** **:** C  
 **Targets** **:** 1  
 **Owner** **:** N/A

 **Name** **: Yerevan Slayer  
** **History** **:** This sword was created using the scales of a dragon who died in Yerevan at the hands Vahagn, the dragon slayer god of Armenia.  
 **Properties** **:** This sword absorbs the blood of any dragon who it cuts, cauterizing the wounds and disabling their regeneration, while getting more powerful the more blood it absorbs.  
 **Type** **:** Anti-Unit (Special)  
 **Rank** **:** C ~ B  
 **Targets** **:** 1  
 **Owner** **:** N/A


	10. An Unwilling Fight

**A/N:** Don't own anything.

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

 **An Unwilling Fight**

* * *

The next time I woke up, it was already dusk. I was alone in one of the beds of the nurse station inside the school. Well, alone in a manner of speaking. I could feel that there were more people in the room, but my bed was separated from the others by the curtains. I finally could think about what happened with more clarity.

CaoCao wanted to get me away from the battlefield, but not because he wanted to recruit me like it had been on the other cases. He wanted to kill me, that's why he brought the big guns. Four against one was hardly fair, but it seemed that they were taking me as a threat. And they didn't mind that hundreds of people would be killed by the war that would break out because the Peace Treaty wasn't signed.

I could at least take solace in the fact that I managed to get the most troublesome of them all. CaoCao for all the power he has, still strikes me as a straight up fighter, he isn't about to use subterfuges or attacking behind my back. He doesn't fight, but when he does, he wants to crush the opponent to demonstrate that he is the strongest. There's no way that he would be satisfied to kill me with anything less than a straight up fight, not after I killed four of his followers. Georg's powers on the other hand could be used to a series of things, from spying to invading secure places to assassinations.

My thoughts circled back to the Dragon. Niðhöggr, it called itself. I frowned at that. I don't have a single sword in my marble that was famed for killing this specific dragon. Three possibilities come to mind in this case. It wasn't killed with a sword or at all, he has another name, or there some other legend about it. I have no idea which would be better in this case. Maybe that was why it managed to get up after being attacked with other Dragon Slayer swords. It also said that it was blessed by the Ourorobos Dragon and that was even weirder. If a dragon, a being known for its pride, bowed its head to another Dragon, I can only imagine how powerful this other Ourorobos Dragon is. I mean, it must be a terrifying creature. I hope to never come across it.

Another thing was the way Azazel watched me once I was talking about Avalon, and the way he explained that it wasn't a Sacred Gear. The assuredness that he said that left me dumbfounded, since he said he scanned my Soul with just a look. His eyes were too much like a Magus that just found another interesting toy for me to be at ease with him. Compound the fact that I haven't found a single Fallen Angel so far that I could be at least neutral about, and that this guy was just watching me with those eyes, I'll have to make sure to be as far away form him as I can. Not that it'll be difficult, since he's the leader of the Grigori, and will probably be gone by the end of the day, if he isn't already.

"Shirou-sama." Astrid low voice brought me out of my reverie, moments before the girl appeared pulling the curtain slightly. "Are you okay now?"

I smiled at the blue eyed blonde girl. "Sure. Whatever they used on me, it worked because at the moment, I'm only spent." I reassured her.

The girl smiled at me, seemingly relieved as well. "Good. The others wanted to know if they can come visit you, but since you were in the infirmary, we didn't know if that would be a good idea, so I came alone."

"It's alright. I'll be out of here in a few minutes." To make my point I removed the covers from my body. "Where you'll be waiting?"

"They are all waiting on the lobby." Her answer came after she realized that I was getting up. "I'll go back to the others now." And she scurried away quickly. I blinked at her reaction. What could have made her act like that just because I... Oh. I was topless. She must have thought that I was naked under the covers. Weird, I was sure I had a shirt on until the moment I fell asleep. The nurses probably removed from me to make sure I didn't have any more wounds. At least they left me with my pants... or what was left of it. My left leg was completely ruined, but the wound behind it was completely healed. I frowned at the blood stains in it, but left it there. I didn't brought change of clothes, so I'll change once I get home.

Tomorrow there would be no school, thankfully, and its possible that they would cancel classes on the next day as well. What with the destruction that the Dragon must have done during the battle. Not to mention Azazel and Vali, or Lucifer and Ajuka. Why were those two fighting in the end? That part I didn't understand. I walked out of the separation, only to be met with a nurse looking perplexed at me. "Y-Y-You shouldn't be awake. You should be in bed."

"I'm okay, really." I smiled reassuringly at the woman. Only after I said that I realized that she wasn't human, but a Devil. A Pureblood one at that. "I'm sorry, I didn't get your name?"

She seemed unnerved by me, but visibly tried to rally herself enough to look stern. "If you are okay, then leave. We-We don't have time to be treating someone who isn't injured."

"Uh... Sure." I said, uncertain. "Know where my shirt is? I was wearing one when I went under..." She pointed to a table where my shirt was laid out. "Ah, thank you." I said to the woman and put the shirt on. "See you around."

I left the room after that. Poor woman must be overworked. I was about to go back to think about the day when I was tackled by the familiar Asia shaped missile with a cry of "Onii-chan!" the moment I put the first foot on the lobby. A moment later, everyone else came as well, including a strangely solemn Shidou.

"Well, is everyone alright?" I asked, passing my eyes over the whole group. When everyone nodded, I smiled back. "So, let's go home and I'll make a feast for everyone today. You all deserve it."

I don't know from where she came from, but out of nowhere Koneko was beside me, without making a sound and was as stoic as always, even with her clothes all banged up, as if she belonged there.

I turned to the white haired girl and put a hand on her head. "You're welcome to come with us as well. But first, you should go home and change clothes." I said smiling down at the petite Rook and scratching her head.

"Oh, just Koneko?" Rias appeared from behind the group of people with a hint of mirth on her voice.

"Of course not. Is Shitori around? I want to invite her and the rest of her Peerage, as well." I said then looked at Shidou. "You're welcome to come too."

The girl blushed, but nodded. What in the world happened with her?

"Sona is making rounds but I'll tell her." The redhead said and I nodded.

"See you guys in... two hours?" I said uncertain. Now that I thought about it, everyone on the dorm, plus Rias' Peerage, plus Shitori's Peerage, plus Shidou would be more than thirty people in total. That was going to take some time to prepare. Well, I felt oddly refreshed physically, if not mystically after the whole battle so I didn't mind it.

The walk home was somewhat more lively than other times. All the girls were talking about how their tactics worked against their enemies, or what didn't work, and how they managed to win their little skirmishes. I didn't know how to feel about that. Maybe it was something inherent to be a Devil, to relish in the chaos of combat, or maybe it was the King Piece bleeding my feelings on them. I didn't know what that did say about me if it was the latter case.

Throughout all of this, I noticed an odd absence. Akeno wasn't with the others. I was going to ask her to help me in the kitchen to prepare dinner, but she wasn't there at the moment. I shook my head. Maybe Rias had called for her for something. It wouldn't be weird for her to do it. I turned around and asked Asia to come to the kitchen after she took her bath. In all truth, I too should take a shower myself, but seeing as there was only one bath on the house, and the dorm was a only a communal one for everyone there, I decided to just change clothes for now.

But that changed the moment I entered my room. Akeno was there, sleeping on my futon. From the position she was and the stains on her face she seemed to have been crying and cried herself to sleep. I frowned at that, thinking in what could have done that to the girl. Sure she had more reason than most to cry, I knew that very well, but what in the world could have made so distressed that she was left in that state. I crouched beside her head, and took a few strands of stray hair that had fallen over her face, tucking them behind her ear.

Patting her head, I pulled the covers over her and kept quiet there for a few more moments. This girl at least deserved that much. I don't know how many times she has come to my aid when I was feeling distressed about something or just to reassure me with her presence. She had a mischievous side that she showed less and less around me. Knowing her like I do, I could see the cracks on that facade quite easily, so she would normally just drop when she was around me. With time, I'm sure she would drop it around everyone else. I'm sure she didn't act like that around Rias too, since they've been together for so long, the redhead must understand her Queen even better than I do. Right now, I'm just torn about not being around when she needed my help.

With a final pat on her head, I got up and went to the dresser, taking off my mangled shirt, an tossing in the corner. I pulled another one and shrugged it over my shoulders then turned and got a pair of pants as well. Making sure she was still sleeping, I put my back against the door, got out of the pants quickly and the pulled the clean one on. These little tricks were something I had to learn the hard way when living with so many girls under my roof, in order to avoid awkward situations.

I was about to toss my clothes into the washing bin, but in the end the trash can was the best destination for them. Then I went to the kitchen, and spent the some time preparing ingredients and the cooker work but I quickly came to the realization that I had to move my efforts to the dorms' kitchen. It was better equipped to make food for so many people. About an hour and a half later, the doorbell for the dorm jingled and a minute later, Ravel came back inside the lobby with both Rias' and Shitori's Peerages, plus Shidou. That was expected.

And plus the Archangel Michael. That was unexpected.

I looked at the group quizzically. By the Root of the world, what a Angel of his ranking wants in a place crowded with Devils. Just his presence was making everyone uncomfortable. "Good evening. I didn't expect you to come here, Archangel Michael." I greeted him.

"Oh, good evening, Emiya Shirou." He bowed to me too and that felt uncomfortable for me as well. "I would like to have a discussion with you about some issues that came to my knowledge, if you don't mind."

I looked at the girls, then back at Rias and Shitori who too appeared to not know what this was about. Sighing, I started giving direction to the tenants. "Everything is ready in the kitchen. Can some of you take care of serving? The rice is almost cooked too." In the end, since it was for so many people, I had to make do with curry rice spiced with some herbs to bring out the flavor. It was easy to make and fast too, though it would be better if I left it overnight, but it was better than having to make several different dishes which would take a lot more time to prepare to so many people. "Through here, please." I said to the angel, indicating the corridor that connected the to my house.

Shidou accompanied us as well. From what I knew about the girl, she was Ise's childhood friend, so I was sure she would like to spend some time with him, but maybe she was Michael's escort or something. From the way she was acting, it didn't seem that I was that far off the mark, I think. I showed them the couch were all my guests sit when they come and went to the kitchen to prepare some tea.

I thought that tonight at least would be a commemoration for a job well done during the whole affair on the Conference, but it seems that the world doesn't want me to relax. The little nap I took on the infirmary was the extent of my rest. Coming back to the room with three cups I frowned when I saw that Shidou was standing at attention behind Michael.

I put the cups on the table anyway. "I don't know what this is about, but it would be rude of you not be sitting when I offer you tea, wouldn't it?" I said to the blonde.

She looked at the Angel then at me, clearly conflicted.

"I don't know what business Michael has with me, but this is my house. My house, my rules. I don't play by the rules of either Heaven or the Underworld, besides that is just common courtesy." I said looking to the blonde, but I'm sure the Angel understood that part of that was for him.

"Irina, please, sit down with us." Michael said, without changing facial expression. The guy didn't change his expression for anything it seemed. "As Emiya Shirou has said, its common courtesy to abide by the rules of the house we're visiting."

"But, Michael-sama..." She looked again between the two of us, then relented, moving to sit as far away from Michael as the couch allowed her to. "Thank you, Emiya-san."

"No problem." I said and sat back myself. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Firstly, I would like to show my appreciation for your efforts today. Everyone who I spoke to said that you were the responsible for the security of the site, and your friends that were part of the staff all indicated that you have been training them for that type of scenario." He said, before taking a sip of the tea. "This is very good. You have my compliments."

"Thank you." I said to him. First Maous, now Archangels. What's next, the Norse Gods? Shinto Deities? Who else is going to sit on that couch before I leave this world? "And they overblown my part on it. I only gave them advice and spent the most part of the fighting sidelined by another force, or by overspending my meager abilities."

"Humility is a good quality to have, Emiya Shirou, but also something that can be a crutch." It was weird to hear an angel talk like that about one of the Seven Virtues.

"It's not humility when its a clear assessment of ones abilities." I answered the man. Angel. Whatever.

"Humm... " He nodded. "Very well. There's another thing that I need to make sure. You, during the fight with Niðhöggr, was said to have invoked a Holy spell that was equal to Father's light when he was still with us. Not even I can use Holy energy like that anymore. Holy is supposed to be an all encompassing light, that does not damage, and can only heal and protect. The Holy energy that is used nowadays in this world is not the True Holy energy that Father used, so I have to ask you, how did you managed to do it."

True Holy, huh. I had thought that it had something like that. Kiba can use both Holy and Demonic energy on his swords, probably because of that. They are antithesis of each other, and unlike any other elements, they can't be combined. Fire and Water, Earth and Wind, Light and Shadow. The only elements that shouldn't be able to be combined were Holy and Demonic. As I suspected, if there was two Holy elements, Holy and True Holy, then the same should be true to Demonic.

In my world, Demons are known as just another element. They are known as the Sixth Imaginary Aspect, passively called forth by human desires. They then become invested in the wishes of humanity, and act like ideations of those wishes, trying to actualize them by whatever means possible. Multiple times those means are distorted and end up causing more harm than good. That's why they are reviled, but not actually evil.

"Emiya Shirou?" Michael asked, voice a little anxious, but his face continued with the same sad look he always had.

"Sorry. Lost in thought there for a second." I waved it off. "Also, the reason why I can use both the 'True Holy' as you call it and let's call it 'True Demonic' for a lack of better term, is something that is intrinsic to my craft, and can only be taught to my apprentice when and if I decide to take one." Bullshit of the greatest quality and I'm sure that I would go to hell if I was a follower of one of the Christian religions with me lying in the face of Angel, a Seraph at that.

"I... see." Again, his voice suggested that he was disappointed, but his face didn't show anything. "That's your decision and I can't tell you not to follow through with it, but if you ever change your mind, please, tell us. Avalon was divided into seven parts and as far as Heaven knows, the parts are still separated. So, you have to understand that when someone appeared, able to call forth the power of the Everdistant Utopia without having the Seven Parts, it got me both wary and curious."

"Avalon, huh." I frowned, thinking about the desecrations they had the gal to call Excalibur. "From what I know, you guys believe that Excalibur was broken in seven pieces, but the Excalibur was never broken in the first place. Not that I know of. At least the pieces I saw so far weren't at any moment since their conceptions a part of The Sword of Promised Victory. Are you sure Avalon wasn't just lost or returned to the Lady of the Lake, like Excalibur was?"

"How do you know Excalibur never been broken?" The Angel asked, curiosity lacing his voice.

"I can't say for sure that Excalibur wasn't broken, but the piece that Shidou here is carrying wasn't in any moment in its existence a part of the original Excalibur." I said, tracing Excalibur Mimic in its basic Katana form. Shidou's eyes widened and she looked at her wrist immediately. Her Excalibur Mimic was still wrapped around it. "It was blessed and it is a Holy Sword, but it was not a part of the Excalibur wielded by the King of Knights." I dismissed the sword and continued. "Are you sure that Avalon was really broken into seven pieces, or is this another case of another artifact being mistakenly identified." I finished my explanation, reaching for my own teacup.

The Angel continued impassive through the whole of my spiel. After I finished he remained quiet for a moment, studying my face as I stared back at him. "And you know about this exactly how?"

"Another part of my craft." It was my go to excuse in this conversation.

Another moment and Michael continued. "Well, I don't know how you came to those conclusions about Excalibur, and unfortunately I can't either dismiss or confirm them, but one thing I can be sure is that Avalon was divided into Seven Parts and Heaven has been monitoring the state of each of the Parts since then. I know, because I was the one who divided it."

My brows furrowed immediately. "Why did you divided an Artifact like that in the first place?"

"There was... conflict..." He paused, measuring his words. "A expedition was commissioned by the Church to retrieve Avalon from its resting place around... three hundred years ago. But instead of delivering the artifact back to the church once it was found, the integrants of the expedition started fighting each other over who should get it. In the end, seven of the fourteen participants of the expedition died and the remaining seven prayed to Father to help them decide what they should do."

"By Zelretch's fake beard..." I muttered. "The Owners..."

He nodded and continued explaining. "But in the end, none of them wanted to part with the artifact, and I could see that it wasn't for avarice that they wanted to. During the expedition, each of the seven survivors committed some form of one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride, all directed at the ones who died. I could feel that they were genuinely repentant for their friend's deaths over Avalon, and wanted a solution that would both serve their purpose, which was to retrieve the artifact, and not let them forget what their earlier actions did for their friends. I decided to divide the artifact into seven parts and give one to each, bonding them to their Souls into pseudo-Sacred Gears. Each Part was to be a penitence for each of the seven, so each part would represent their Sin. Once the Part judged that the holder of the Part had paid the penitence, the Part would then turn into the Virtue associated with the Sin. Once all seven penitences were completed, Avalon would choose its wielder and the seven Parts will call to each other and once again Avalon will reform itself. If Avalon can't find anyone suitable, then the Parts will continue to reincarnate, regardless of their state, until a Wielder is deemed worthy."

I was gaping at this point. "That's..." I tried to put thoughts in order. "That's a little different from what I heard." I said in the end.

He tilted his head, still didn't change facial expressions though. "You heard of this?"

"I..." I grimaced, only now realizing my slip, then shook my head. If he was the one who created the Seven Parts, he should know about this. "The Owner..."

"Ah, yes." The man nodded. "The Owners were the ones who received each Part and would have to do the penitence in case the original holder didn't finish it."

"Wait, the Owners have to pay a penitence that someone who died hundreds of years ago didn't?" I glowered at the Angel. "Someone completely unrelated to them have to pay the price for actions that they didn't take?"

"Not unrelated." He waved both hands as he explained. "The ones who received Parts are reincarnated souls of the originals."

When I was going to glower at him some more I reeled myself back. Reincarnation existed in this universe, as I had discovered about the Hero Faction. Some souls didn't go back to the Root to be cleansed before returning to the world, so what he was saying wasn't as farfetched as my first knee jerk reaction... "But what if they were turned into Devils with the Evil Piece System?"

"The Evil Piece System didn't exist back then and it was an unforeseen event, unfortunately. But Avalon, even divided in Parts, is still a Holy Artifact created by Father. The ritual used by the Devils to Reincarnate humans and other beings into Devils shouldn't work on them. Father's Light should protect the Owner from being Reincarnated, even if the Part was still designated as a Sin. When Avalon is once again reunited, then they will be able to be turned, because they'll not be Owners anymore but not before."

"Okay... But it has been more than three hundred years..."

"Yes. But that's where our problem comes. The Parts are all Virtues now, there's no Sins anymore." He said and I furrowed again my brows.

"But the person who told me said that some of the parts were already identified as Sloth, Greed and Wrath." I was confused by that. "How can they be identified as that if they are not Sins anymore?"

"The Parts themselves are two sides of the same idea." Michael moved his hand as if to demonstrate. "One side is a Virtue, the other a Sin. The Owners themselves identify them as one or the other depending on their psyche at the time. I imagine that if someone had the Sloth Part, that person would blame his or her laziness on it, instead of themselves."

I could understand that. But that brought me to another point that was nagging at the back of my head. "What about the empowering?"

"Empowering?"

"The one who told me about the Owners told me that they empower them when they act in accordance with their meaning. If it was Lust, they could create a Harem, if it was Gluttony they could eat without stopping, and so on."

"That is a myth created through the years." He said, assured of it. "The cases you are mentioning aren't really the Parts empowering the Owner, but their Owner's own innate qualities or flaws. They only represent the Sin of the original holder, and as I said, there's no Sins anymore. Only Virtues."

I stopped and began to think about. True, how would the Part empower Kindness? Or Temperance? But what about the Sins? If the Sloth Part empowered the user to continue being lazy and affected everyone around him then he would die of malnutrition in short order, so it wasn't really feasible. The Lust, Greed and Wrath I could see it, but what about Pride and Envy?

"Okay." I decided to move past that. "I get that, so how are the Parts distributed then? You said they are the Reincarnated souls of the originals, but then why did the person who told me about the Owners only received hers ten years ago? She's almost thirty now."

"Oh, Tohsaka Rin, right?" He said, and I grimaced. In hindsight, he did just told me that they were paying close attention to the Owners, so I should have known. "The Part only manifests itself once the person finds a Partner suitable to be a proxy for the Part to be redeemed."

"That doesn't make sense. She said that she just received the Part, didn't say anything about a Partner." There's still something that isn't quite right.

Why is he telling me all of this anyway?

Oh, right, Avalon.

"I assume that she was trying to determine if you are an Owner or not, am I correct?" I only nodded at him. No use trying to deny. "I believe that if you said anything about a Partner then, she would know immediately that you were an Owner, as well."

"But then..."

"The Partner was a proxy for the one who was sinned against." He repeated. "Once the penitence against the Partner was completed, the Part changed, instead of representing its Sin, now they represent the corresponding Virtue." The Angel took another of the by now cold tea. "As I said, all the parts now represents their Virtues, and the Part only manifests itself once the Partners suitable to be a proxy is chosen."

"Why would the Owner of a Virtue still need a Partner?" I asked, still not clear on that point.

"The Part only manifests after the Partner is chosen, regardless if it represents a Virtue or a Sin." He explained. "Since all of them are Virtues now, the Partner is now only a device to awaken the Part of the Owner, with the exception of the last Partner, but that is outside the scope of the reason I asked to talk to you."

"And what is exactly that you want?"

He paused, looking at me with the same expression, but I could feel that he was studying me, looking for something. "When you used Avalon, I was sure that my information was outdated and it had chosen its Wielder already. But when I checked with Uriel, nothing had changed. All the Parts are still with their Owners. And the last Owner still hasn't even found a Partner yet."

"I see..." I went into battle mode at this point. Studying the angel back the same way he was doing with me. Shidou must have realized the shift in the air, because she tensed and I could see she fighting to not reach for her sword.

"From what I can see of your craft, you can reproduce weapons and maybe other things, like you just did with Excalibur Mimic, and earlier today when you handed Irina here another legendary weapon." He continued to make his point. "At first I thought you had some way to reproduce the properties out of legends or maybe you could read into a object you touched. Token object reading isn't that uncommon a skill, after all, but from the reports I received from Irina you didn't need to touch the swords. You only looked at them and was able to reproduce them, including Durandal." He paused again, and my tension level went higher. "I imagine that you would be able to reproduce Avalon with the same ease, but the problem with that is that you should not have never seen Avalon in its complete state. So, I ask you, Emiya Shirou, who are you really?"

I looked back at him impassive. Would I have to throw an Angel out of my house when I hadn't done that with Devils, just to protect my secret? "I already said that this is intrinsic to my craft and I won't answer questions of that nature." Then I sighed, throwing the towel. "But I don't want to be on bad terms with an Archangel when I'm not with the Maous, so I'll tell you this. My name is Emiya Shirou, I was adopted into the Emiya Family by the person I call my father and I am human. You got almost everything about me right, but the... reproductions... I create aren't limited to things I see." Well, things that ' _I_ ' didn't see. I could recreate things my other selves had, but he doesn't need to know that.

"Oh... I see..." That should explain it well enough for him. "You aren't telling me the whole truth about it," He dashed my hopes instantly. "but I sense that you aren't lying as well. So it really is something about your craft and you can't talk about it?"

"Yes." I answered bluntly.

"Very well. I'll not pry anymore then." He relented.

"Now, is there anything else?" I asked, eager to have him leave already. He made a move with his hand as if to say that there was more, but then another thing came to my mind and made me ask him before he could continue. "But what about the murders?"

"Murders?" His voice was confused.

"According to Tohsaka Rin-san, the families that didn't receive their Part back are attacking the Owners in hopes of receiving their Parts again since a Tohsaka already received theirs." I told him about the conversation I had with the woman.

"I see... That... That's worrisome. There's no telling what might happen to them, but we can't make any moves on this matter. At least, not directly. The families that the souls are reincarnated into generally have nothing to do with the original fourteen families since the Parts were all redeemed, and only through chance that she was reborn into the same family. It has nothing to do with the fact that she is a Tohsaka now but the fact that her soul was reincarnated from one of the seven originals." He stroked his chin then looked at Shidou. "Irina, will you-"

He stopped when we heard steps from the hallway behind me. I turned around to see that Akeno had woken up. "Oh, sorry, Shirou. I didn't know you had guests. Good evening, Michael-sama. Irina-chan." She said bowing to both of them.

"Oh, good evening." The man nodded to her, then turned back to Shidou. "Irina, I would like for you to stay in Kuoh Town for a few more days, if that's not a problem. Once I'm back in Heaven we'll investigate this matter of the murders that Emiya Shirou has brought to attention and it would be better if I have someone here to take care of any eventuality."

"No problem, Michael-sama." The girl answered, smiling eagerly.

He turned back to me. "I had another matter to discuss with you, Emiya Shirou, but now this takes precedence. I'll send a message shortly with our findings."

"No problem." I answered the Archangel and he got up from his seat, mirrored by me. "If there's anything else, than you can reach me... Wait, you don't have phones in Heaven, do you?"

Shidou and Akeno giggled at my question. "No. That's an unfortunate drawback that our specialists will have to work on." He turned back to Akeno. "Have a good night." The brunette bowed to him respectfully and I accompanied them both to the gate. After another round of goodbyes, I returned to the living room to find it empty. Shrugging, I sat on the couch. I had much to think.

Avalon. It had a different legend in this world, compared to what I know of...

No, not legend. History. I knew that God was already dead three hundred years ago, so I knew that there was more to the story that Rin-san had told me, but the truth was at the same time more baffling and more mundane. There was no 'empowerment' as she defined. Just human nature doing its work. Probably something subliminal. As Michael explained I could imagine someone having the Greed Part, blaming the fact that they hoard everything on having the Part and not on themselves.

Seven Parts of Avalon. Seven Excaliburs. Seven Owners and Seven Partners. Seven Masters and Seven Servants. Why so many things in my life revolve around the number seven? Is there something karmic about it?

But three hundred years ago again. Why does so many things happened in that timeframe. The first Grail War, Avalon being broken in seven and distributed to the Owners, the conception of the Evil Pieces System with the creation of the King Pieces. If they tell me that the Excaliburs were created around the same time I'll not be happy... Though those Holy Swords weren't pieces of Excalibur in the first place. I traced Excalibur Destruction, just to make sure, and sure enough, it was created in the same timeframe. I sighed, defeated.

Why do several of these events date back to around the same time? There's got to be a connection there too.

"Shirou?" Akeno's voice brought me out of my musings. She was coming from the bathroom apparently, since her face didn't have anymore streaks of dried tears that they had before.

"Oh, sorry." I said, forcing a smile on my face. "How are you feeling?"

She saw right through me, as always. "Shirou, what happened? Why did you trace that sword?" Okay, maybe it wasn't the fake smile, but that little fact.

I let my face fall then turned my head to the ceiling, dismissing the sword and closing my eyes. "Some things that Michael and I talked, don't worry about it." I felt her sitting beside me. "And you? How are you feeling?" I recalled the way she cried herself to sleep in my futon earlier today.

She realized that I wouldn't talk about the subject anymore. For one, I didn't want to talk about, and for another she needed comfort right now rather than hear about the revelations about Avalon. "Better, I think." She said quietly and I snaked my arm around her to massage her scalp. "So much happened today."

"Yeah. Too much in fact." Then I looked at the clock on the wall. "And the day is not over yet."

She giggled softly. "Yeah. Who knows what might happen in the next two hours."

"Two hours is plenty of time for several things to happen." I said, then quickly added before she could turn the phrase into its head. "What happened with you after I was out for the count?"

She stayed quiet for a long time after that question. I let her be without prodding. If she wanted to talk, she would eventually. When she did, it wasn't what I expecting at all. "I met my father."

I tensed right away, computing the information instantly. Akeno met her father. She was crying so much that she cried herself to sleep. She used my futon to seek comfort that I couldn't give her in person. My voice went cold at that. "What did he do?" I have yet to meet a Fallen Angel that makes my opinion of them better and if her father did...

She must have realized my line of thinking because she brought her arm around my torso to hug herself closer to me. "Nothing. He just came to talk to me... and I tried to fry him with Holy Lightning." She giggled again. "Turns out that was kind of hard, since I inherited from him." Her voice turned smug at that. "He was surprised that I could already use it, though. It was nice to see the disbelief on his face." Then her voice went down again. "But after I got it out of my system, we just talked. He told me everything that I already knew. That he loved my mother and it was his enemies that killed her, and all of that. He couldn't be near me because it would make me a target for his enemies so he thought it would be better to leave me with my mother's family."

From there I knew what happened from her memories. Her mother's family didn't want a Half-Fallen in the family and tried to kill her and she ran away, eventually becoming a Devil under Rias.

"It was just that... That talking to him, I began to remember how he was when my mother was still alive, how we were happy together, how he didn't change in all this time, and now that he appeared in front of me again, I don't know what to feel." She was almost sobbing at this point again. "And with it, the memories of my mother came back again too. Right now, I don't really now who I am anymore. I'm a Devil, but I'm a Half-Fallen too. I lived as a human girl too, who was loved by their parents, but was abandoned by them as well. I am Devil who is cared about by her King, but I don't know what the future holds for me. I know how the Gremory Clan treats their servants as family, but even Rias had to go through that Rating Game to get out of an arranged marriage that her mother was pushing it through. Someday something might happen and I'll be what then? I'm not sure what to feel right now."

I hummed in response to that, trying to think an answer that could satisfy the girl who seemed so small in my arms. "I don't have a right to tell you how you should feel." I told her in the end. "I can only tell you one thing. Follow your heart. It's cheesy, I know, but sometimes that's the only thing we have. Our own emotions." I mussed her hair a little more strongly before removing my hand from her head, to cup her cheek and make her face me. "I told you before, I'll be here for you, no matter what you decide to do with your life. Until you find that, I'll be your brother, I'll be your father, I'll be your lover, your guardian, your uncle, your protector." I repeated the vow I made her when I strong armed her into living here. "To me you are Himejima Akeno, not a Devil, not a Half-Fallen, not a human, not a servant of the Gremory Clan. Just Himejima Akeno." I smiled at her, trying to be reassuring.

"Shirou..." Her smile was somewhat watery when she said that but getting better, more centered. She kept looking at my face, as if she was really seeing me for the first time since we met. It was weird how her eyes kept roaming over my features as if to try and discover some kind of difference, somewhere where there was a lie on what I said. I wouldn't let her find it, because what I said was the truth. Then her face fell, with a sad smile. "Shirou... You'll be gone one way or another." She said, and I realized what she meant. I would be gone from this world, either by dying, or by going back to my own world.

I sighed, looking over her head at nothing in particular, trying to collect my thoughts. Why did I make that promise to her? I... She was right, too. I really need to go back to my world. That's why I have been casting that Beacon Spell every single day. It was the conclusion I had come to after our conversation in the rooftop of the school, but I... after what I saw in her memories... There has to be something I can do to guarantee her that either I would help her until then, or that I could come back again.

Now that I think about it, could I? Would Zelretch or Rin let me use the Kaleido Stick to come here? Would they bring me? Would Zelretch take me under his wing as he did Rin? No. He only took Rin after she distinguished herself with the whole incident with Sakura and the destruction of the last vestiges of the Lesser Grail.

My eyes shot open when I realized that there was a way. It already happened before twice, so it should be simple, even more here in this world. As long as there is a connection, then it should be possible. "I don't know if this will work, but if someday I'm not here anymore, then..." I told her about my wacky plan. Her eyes were going wider and wider as the explanation went on.

"Shirou... Are you sure?" She asked me, and I nodded. There's no way I'm going to back out now. Still, there's more to it than just that. There's always more, so I'll let my words sink in with her first, then we'll move on. I kept looking into her eyes without moving. This time I wouldn't let her have seconds thoughts about anything I said.

After almost a minute of doing nothing but stare at each other, I smiled. "Are you hungry? If we don't go eat, Koneko is liable to eat our portions as well."

"Koneko?" She swiveled her head to look at the darkness of the dining room, even though she just came from that direction.

"Yeah, dinner today is on the dorm." I explained to the girl. "I invited everyone and since it was too much people, I had to use the kitchen there."

"Everyone as in?" She asked.

I looked up counting on my fingers. "Rias' Peerage, or the rest of it, Shitori's Peerage, Ravel's Peerage and the girls on the dorm." Then looked down at her. "And now you." I smiled again, and she giggled, looking up at me.

The smile that blossomed on her face, like the sunflowers opening themselves to the first rays of sun, was all that I needed to know that she would be okay. No matter what happened, the Shrine Maiden would be okay in the end. And with it, my spirit too was uplifted. I could forget about Michael's story for a few hours at least.

"Onii-chan?" Asia's voice from the hallway came just as Akeno's little laughs died down. "The girls are waiting for you, did your conversation with... Onii-chan?" She appeared at the end of the hallway and stopped dead on her tracks, then tilted her head and turned bright red. "I'll tell the others you are still occupied. Excuse me." And darted back to the hallway.

I looked puzzled in that direction then back at Akeno. It was only then that I realized the position we were in. I had an arm draped over her shoulders, she was with one hand on my chest and the other around my back. Our faces close. Now transporting this image to someone seeing from the outside. The brunette was the first to realize and started to laugh, hard.

"Hohoh, now I have more teasing material." She said, putting the arm that was on my chest around my shoulders.

"Akeno..." I said, voice falling into warning territory. "We have to go now, otherwise it will be worse than when it happened with Rias."

That made the smile on her face disappear instantly, and she pulled back, still with her arms around me but at arms length and her eyes narrowed. "What did you do?"

"Nothing. That's my point." I told her moving my face to look at the hallway again. "When I closed her Circuits, Asia walked in at the time too. You remember how I open a Soul Dive, right?" She knitted her brows and nodded. "Now imagine the scene looking from the outside. What do you think it looks like?"

She imagined, and started giggling and pulling herself closer again. "Oh, yeah. I was not your first, right?" She said, mock hurt on her tone. "Then again, why is it so bad that she thinks that you were doing these things with my King?" Then her voice became a whisper when she pulled my head to her and said in my ear. "Or me?"

I shivered. "It's..." I gulped dryly. "It's not because of me, it's because of you." I answered her. She giggled again, then put her face on the crook of my neck, practically sitting on my lap as she did.

Exhaling happily she made herself comfortable in that position. "I said this before, but I'll say again." Her tone was normal again, not teasing or sad. "I love being here, like this. It feels... right."

That made me feel a little more at peace with the situation, so I just put a hand back on her head and began to press my fingers on her scalp one more time. "Yeah. I like it too." Her whole presence had a way to calming me down, making me feel at peace.

We stayed like that for another five minutes, I think, before I heard the door on the other side of the hallway to the dorm open again, and motioned for her to move, to which she complied with a pout. When Rias appeared on the doorway, Akeno was already sitting normally with one of the teacups I had prepared earlier on her lap and looking at it with a sad look on her face.

If I didn't know any better, I would think that she spent the whole time in that position. The redhead took one hard look at me, but then her eyes softened when she looked at her Queen, some kind of understanding dawning on her face. Probably thinking that the Shrine Maiden had been talking to me about her conversation with her father. It was true, in part, but it hadn't been just that.

"If you two don't come to eat, Koneko, Xenovia and Karlamine will eat everything." She delivered that line smiling.

I chuckled. It was true too. I pegged only Koneko to be the one who would eat everything and had forgotten about the other two. I got up and, after offering my hand to the brunette, pulled her up. She smoothed her clothes back into place before we got to the hallway.

Once we crossed the threshold of the door to the lobby of the dorm the scene that greeted us was one that I had to blink to make sure it was happening. Meguri was on top of the table, with Shitori and Shinra trying to take her back down, Margareth was holding one of the big pots I had used to cook earlier, being helped by Mihae, while Koneko had a spoon trying to attack said pot, while Xenovia held her by the scruff of the shirt with one hand and the other held her plate away from the girl on top of the table. Saji and Ise were watching the girl dance in the table with perverted looks on their faces, while Kiba looked from behind the two exasperated, Nimura and Hanakai were about to pull both of Saji's ears, Ravel had both her hands on her flushed face and Gasper looked confused with a finger to his lips. I assume it was him because there's no girl I know who uses a paper bag on her head. Sophie was trying to help both Shitori and Shinra, but was being obstructed by Xuelan and Marion who were applauding the spectacle. On the corner, Kusaka, Candida, Carmela, Sylvi, Giselle and Julie were huddled talking about who knows what. Wait, now that I look closely, they were all around Asia who was the one talking with an atomic blush on her face. On the doorway to the kitchen, Karlamine was having a discussion with Naiara, Astrid and Solveiga. Apparently the Knight wanted access to it, and the other three were blocking it. Alberta and Yura where on the other side of the table, both stealing furtive looks at both Kiba and either Ise or Saji, I don't know which, and am scared to know actually. Carlota, Chevonne, Khalilah, Naiara and Tomoko were on the back of the room, each with a plate on hand, giggling at the antics of the whole scene.

I took it all in, then looked at Rias, who was gaping at the scene, then at Akeno who had that smile that I was scared to try and decipher. Either she would scold everyone or join in the mess. I don't know which would be worse. "You know what? I'll go take a bath. I haven't had the time to take one yet."

And turned my back to the whole thing. Forget about discovering the intricacies of that scene. Forget about knowing why Meguri seemed to be drunk when I was sure that there wasn't a drop of alcohol on that kitchen. Forget about the revelations about Avalon. Forget about Michael's story. Forget about my conversation with Akeno. Forget about Asia completely misunderstanding what she saw earlier and spreading around.

I was tired and a bath would be good, right about now.

* * *

In the end I never received a full account of what happened on the day of the conference. From what I could piece together so far about what happened that day was that the Old Satan Faction of the Khaos Brigade brainwashed a whole bunch of people and stuck Artificial Sacred Gears on them, using them as cannon fodder in a bid to destroy the three leaders of the Christian Factions. The Khaos Brigade, as it turns out, is divided in several factions, all of them receiving the blessing from Ophis, the Ourorobos Dragon. No one actually knows who or what this Dragon looks like, since it can shapeshift. The Magician faction inside the Khaos Brigade, called Nilrem, the same as the Magician I killed on the Underworld belonged to, kidnapped Gasper in order to force him to use his Sacred Gear on everyone on the Amphitheater, but with all the wards we put on the place, plus Gasper resisting the Magicians, bought enough time for both Rias and Ise to get there and rescue him. Or him to rescue himself. I wasn't actually clear on that part.

It went downhill for the Old Satan Faction after that. This faction wanted the Devils to return to the bad old days before the Devil Civil War, where they used to control the world with fear and attack the human world indiscriminately. The Beelzebub that Lucifer was fighting wasn't actually Ajuka, but a descendant of the original Beelzebub. Another descendant was spotted as well, Katerea Leviathan, but no one knew what happened to that Devil. Azazel had attacked her before being sidetracked by Vali Lucifer, who was the silver haired guy who was supposed to be his bodyguard.

From what we could piece together, the dragon attack wasn't planned by the rest of the Brigade, but rather an isolated act by Niðhöggr. The Abyss Dragon wasn't even supposed to be on the human world apparently. He was supposed to still be on Niflheim, the realm of the dead of the Norse Mythology, still chewing on the root of Yggdrasil. Messages from the Norse Pantheon revealed that they didn't even realized that the dragon had disappeared until they were notified.

Meanwhile, the Hero Faction took advantage of the confusion to try and kill me while leaving the other factions to destroy themselves.

At the moment I was inside my workshop, trying to refine my beacon spell, but it was slow going. I haven't actually made any progress with it, but if there's one thing I'm becoming quite proficient with is the calculations for the spells used around here. Once you get used to them, they are actually easier to use than the Rituals that need Arias back on my world. I was about to try again when I felt another presence nearing the workshop. Actually, two presences. Akeno and Ise, though the pervert's presence was somewhat dimmed.

I continued doing what I was doing, sitting on the bench at the worktable, when I felt the Shrine Maiden's arms around me. "What you're doing, Onii-sama?" Her voice was tinged with mischief.

"Nothing much, just trying to figure out how am I going to change this" I showed her the spell transcribed on the notebook on Ravel's handwriting. "into something that can target specific people without the need for a reagent." I sighed. "To be honest it's slow going." It was actually completed stalled.

I shook my head, and turned back to the girl. Only now that I was looking to the rest of the room I realized that I couldn't actually see the pervert anywhere. It was just me and Akeno inside there. I cocked my head to the side then looked up at her.

"Were you with Ise until now?" Her face turned from teasing to pained in a flash.

Wait, now that I am paying more attention, it isn't her normal scent that I'm feeling, but her mystical scent that is overlapping with Ise's. My eyes widened slightly when realization hit me. The only way that I know of that two scents can mingle like this is generally just after a mana exchange, and by the volume I'm feeling from her, it was probably during a tantric ritual, in other words...

"Heh..." The smile came to my face without me realizing, even if I felt a little tight on the chest for some reason. "So... When are you two going to tell the others? Or did you two already told them?"

"Tell what to whom?" She asked confused, taking a step back.

"Well, I fell sorry for Asia, but matters of the heart are like that sometimes, I guess." I answered her shrugging, without actually answering. I patted Akeno on the head while getting up, thinking on going to the house to try and find the blonde Nun to see how she took that knowledge if she knew and if she didn't try to prepare her heart for the revelation. "For now, just make sure you tell him that if he ever hurts you, he'll have to survive one of my _special_ training exercises." I smiled at her and was about to reach the door when she grabbed my shirt.

"Shirou? What are you talking about?" She asked me, eyes still confused.

I tilted my head. "Oh..." Finally I realized my blunder. "You guys didn't tell the others yet? Sorry, you're right. I can't get in between you guys like that."

"Tell what to the others?" She let go of my shirt, but still held her hand on my forearm. "What are you talking about?"

I knit my brows. "You and Ise, obviously."

Her eyes opened wide and her eyebrows shot to her hairline. "What?! Me and Issei-kun what?"

I looked at her confused myself now. "You two slept together, right?"

"WHAT!?" She took a step back, her face looked honestly horrified. Probably because I figured it out. "NO! How can you say that?!"

I smiled at her. "That's one of the things that I should probably tell you some other time, but basically, I can tell when someone had a Prana transfer ritual with another person, and the quantity of his mana you have in your system right now is only achieved during a tantric ritual, so..." I told her and she continued to look confused. "You should probably tell him that even if he feels better during his release, that can be harmful for you."

"Shirou!" She pulled me by the arm when I was about to turn again. "What are you talking about?! I don't understand."

"You want me to spell out for you? Really?" I asked. Well, she is with the pervert so maybe she isn't shy about these things. "You have to tell him that when he reaches his climax, he should hold back some otherwise you'll have too much of his Od in your system and that can damage your Circuits. Unless you two already have a contract, you should bleed it out." Her eyes continued wide, and I sighed. "When you two have sex again you should make sure that the transfer goes both ways, otherwise you only be harmed, is what I'm saying."

She began to open and close her mouth like a fish, probably trying to understand how I discovered that. I smiled and again patted her head one more time.

"Don't worry. I'll not tell Asia or Rias about it until you feel like it, alright?" I smiled down at her.

She continued to look at me, but her confusion turned to hurt. "Shirou..."

Whatever she was going to say got interrupted when a teleportation circle appeared on the door for the workshop and Rias appeared carrying Ise. "Akeno! Help!"

I whirled in place to look at the two newcomers. Ise had the Boosted Gear out, and he was agonizing on the ground. Had he been in a fight with something? Did a Stray Devil really have so much power to take down Ise? That was a worrisome thought.

"Rias? What happened?" Akeno asked from behind me.

"I don't know, I don't know!" The girl shrieked. "We were just talking and then it began acting up again."

"But we just finished a session." The Shrine Maiden said, getting on her knees.

"I know, but I don't think it was enough." The redhead answered, putting the pervert on the ground. The kid was looking terrible. "And I tried to suck it out myself, but it didn't stop!"

"Why didn't you call me then?" Akeno asked.

"You forget that inside here it doesn't work anymore." Rias answered. It was a problem that we hadn't solved yet. Rias could teleport inside the perimeter because she was keyed to the Boundary Field, but from the outside she couldn't contact Akeno or Asia without using more mundane means, such as their cellphones. I was _supposed_ to look into it, but haven't had the time yet. But something more important is happening at the moment and I need to concentrate on it, namely...

"What in the name of the Root is happening here?" I asked both of them, and Akeno turned to look at me, but didn't say anything, before taking the arm that had the Boosted Gear on her arms. Wait, that's not the Boosted Gear, it's too scaly looking and doesn't have the jewel on the back of the gauntlet. "What is happening?" I asked Rias.

"He sold his arm to defeat the dragon during the conference, remember? Now Ddraig is trying to claim it." Her answer made me shiver, but first things first. I needed to do something about all the power leaking out of it. He began to trash about, almost knocking Akeno off of him. I jumped over his arm and pinned it to the ground. Once we managed to stop it, she began to literally suck on one scaly finger. As in, put the index finger in her mouth as began pulling prana from it.

"What are you doing?" Damn, either the kid grew some muscles, or this is Ddraig's strength. He wouldn't stop forcing his way, trying to move the arm I had pinned. I had to Reinforce both my legs and arms just to hold it in place.

"It was the only way we discovered that helped." Akeno answered. "There was no other way for us to do this."

I felt the Prana beginning to surge from Ise to Akeno. If we weren't in such a dire situation I would have facepalmed. "Suck power out of the arm?" I asked dumbly, he had stopped trashing for the moment, but was still agonizing in the floor.

"Yeah. It was supposed to be just until we discovered a way to solve this." The redhead piped in, cradling the boy's head on her lap.

I absorbed that. "Okay." There has to be something I can do in this case. Something that drains prana. Moly wouldn't solve this. Even if I managed to stab it through the scales it would only stall the transformation. Then it came to me in a flash. "Hold him down." I ordered the two girls.

This blade was one that I had never traced. I'm sure of it, because I had never seen been used. At least, not by ' _me_ '. It came from the memories that weren't mine. It came from an existence known as 'Emiya Shirou' who had battled Caster to a standstill until his Servant came to rescue him. I traced the blade, taking a moment to admire the craftsmanship, and pointed it to his arm.

"What's that?" Rias looked at the blade I had called. Akeno had let go of the scaly arm and turned to look at it the moment the sword appeared in her line of vision when I pointed it at the arm. The blade immediately started doing its job. This crimson-ruby colored blade with a silver guard and handle began to pull all of the power from the arm, breaking it down into Prana and storing within itself.

"This blade... Is called Ignis Heart." I said, concentrating. "It has the ability to store within itself an enormous amount of Prana." As I said that his arm began to turn back to a normal one again, and the clawed hand began to disappear. I kept it leveled at it, even after it had already been over for almost a minute, just to make sure there wouldn't be any backlash. Problem was, what I was going to do with all this raw power. I couldn't just dismiss the sword. I have no idea what it would do with the Prana stored inside it. "Rias, can you teleport this sword to somewhere else, like outer space, preferably?"

She looked at me wide eyed. "I... can... but why?"

"I have no idea what'll happen once I'll dismiss it." I answered her. "I don't know if the power will simply dissipate or if it'll explode, or, worse, try to return to him." She understood my plight.

Once the magic circle appeared, I dropped the sword in it and stood back. A second later it disappeared. I waited five seconds to dismiss it, falling down on my butt and panting hard.

"Where... did you send it?" I asked in between breaths, curious.

"Well, I didn't know the coordinates to outer space, so I transported it to the middle of the pacific ocean." She answered. Well, I just hope that there isn't a tidal wave because of that. The tsunami that happened in Japan a few years ago was still fresh in my mind. Come to think of it, did it happen in this Universe as well? Probably not. I never discovered the truth but that tsunami had all the hallmarks of being artificially created.

The boy at least wasn't trashing anymore on the ground. "Okay, now can someone explain to me why did this happen so suddenly? I mean, he has been with that arm of his for three days already."

"It shouldn't have happened." Akeno answered. "We have been sucking its powers everyday since then, and we already did it today too. Either something happened to it, or its escalating."

"The Scale Mail. The Boosted Gear's Balance Breaker." Rias said, quietly. "In order to use it, he had to sacrifice his left arm. He made a deal with Ddraig to be able to use it."

"Okay." The pervert was waking up at this point and Rias sat down behind him, trading places with Akeno, who moved to sit behind my back. "It was a deal between the two?" I asked again.

"Yeah, basically." The redhead asked confused. "Why?"

"I may know a way to end this problem, but I don't know what'll happen to the Boosted Gear afterwards." I answered, crossing my legs as I adjusted my position. "Or if it'll work at all, actually. His connection with the Gear is not actually a contract with him, but part of his own Soul, so it should be safe, but since they made a deal, it can be considered loosely a contract between a Magical Beast and another being, so it's possible..." I began to mumble.

"You're not going to-" Rias started but I cut her off.

"I wanna talk with him first." I told her before she said anything else. "If he decides to go through with it, then I'll do it. If not, then we'll need to find some other way to keep him alive. I mean, you two can't be around all the time, or me for that matter. What if it happens when he's inside the classroom full of other kids? Or if happens when he's outside, away from everyone else? Or during a contract?"

"Do it." I heard Ise's voice, cutting through the discussion. "This power that Ddraig lent me, if I can't control it, and it happened in one of those situations, then I could hurt a lot of cute girls without meaning to. I don't want that to happen."

So if it was in the middle of a retirement home he wouldn't have a problem with it? I almost facepalmed at his reasoning. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah... It will be a shame to not have those sessions with Akeno-san or Buchou, but... But... But..." Apparently the imagery he was recalling was making him have second thoughts.

"Ise!" I called him, loudly with a commanding tone in my voice. "Decide. Now."

He grimaced for a second, then sat up and turned a serious look as I have ever seen in him to me. "Do it, Sempai."

"Alright." I looked around thinking that maybe it would be better to use the Formalcraft Circle for this, but the Bounded Field around the house was still active, so since Ise was keyed to it, consequently the Boosted Gear was too. That made frown.

I must have waited around a minute while musing this, then looked up at Ise when he called me. "Hum... Sempai?" I waved him off and traced another blade.

I think I used this Noble Phantasm more in the last few months than in my entire life. Rule Breaker was not a weapon that it brought good memories for me, so maybe that's why I tried to use at every opportunity? Just so that it could be used to do some good instead of what that witch tried to do with it...

No, forget it. Not a good memory to be thinking right now.

And the worse of all is, even if I a hate her I can't deny that she did have a rough life. All the betrayals that she suffered was what created the dagger in the first place.

"Sorry. I don't know what will happen now. I have no idea if it'll destroy your connection completely with the Boosted Gear, or if it'll just break the contract you did with it." I said. "Are you still going to do it?"

"Yeah." He looked back more serious than I ever seen him. "I don't want anyone to be in danger because of me."

"Alright then." I took a deep breath. "Let's do it then. Call out the Boosted Gear and give me your arm." Akeno peeked over my shoulder and Rias sat back behind Ise.

He did as asked then extended it for me and I stabbed it.

And it exploded. Literally.

There was such a concentrated explosion of prana inside the workshop that it sent me flying against the wall. It was all I could do to twist my body to grab Akeno so she wouldn't hit the wall, but my chest. Which ended up knocking the wind out of me. Rias was lucky because she went through the open door and into the soft grass on the yard.

There was a cloud of smoke somewhere in the room, where Ise should be, but I couldn't see anything. "Ise!" I got up and called again. "Ise!"

"I'm here, Sempai!" He said. "I'm... here..." His voice was loud but began to dim somewhat.

I went to his position and looked down at him. Apparently no change happened and he was still alive and whole. I half thought that I had exploded his arm. I offered my hand to get him up and he took it. "How are you feeling?"

"Strange... Like, weaker..." He said after a moment.

"Ise?" I asked when the boy looked glazed over. "Ise!" He didn't answer and his eyes rolled over and he fell down. "Akeno! Are you okay over there?"

"Yeah... I'm alright... Just winded." The brunette answered.

"Can you try and treat-" I began but was interrupted.

Rias had burst through the door, yelling. "Ise!" When she saw that he was okay, she whirled at me. "What did you do?!"

I looked puzzled by the reaction from the redhead. "What?"

"I lost my connection to Ise. I almost thought that he had died!" Came the shrill shout from the girl.

"Lost the connection...?" What's she talking... about... Oh. Right. Rule Breaker broke all contracts Ise had.

"Sorry." I said, looking around the room. "The Pawn Pieces must be around here somewhere..." I began to look around. The explosion earlier must have sent them flying.

"What? Why?! What did you do?" She asked again, barely containing her anger.

"I couldn't target a single contract within him, so I ended up breaking all his contracts at the same time. With both the Boosted Gear and with you." I pointed out to him. "You must have lost your connection then."

We began to scour the room and thankfully Rias still had her connection with the Pieces, so we found all eight of them pretty fast.

"Hummm..." I looked at the eight Pieces, uneasy. "Did I do that?" I asked when looking at four of the Pieces. They were Mutated Pieces.

Rias looked at them and sighed relieved. "No. Beelzebub-sama had said that some of Ise's Pieces had Mutated." Good. If I somehow Mutated the Pieces in that way, I would be in serious trouble if it was discovered. The redhead got the Pieces and was about to use them on Ise again when another problem occurred. "By the Maous..."

"What?! What happened now?" Getting closer I asked. "Don't tell me they didn't work."

"Ise..." She swallowed dryly. "Ise only took one Piece now... From the eight I used before to only one..."

I processed that for a moment. "Did I destroy the Boosted Gear then?" Dread filled me. "Don't tell me I did that to the kid. Please, don't tell me that."

"No. He still has it. Even if it was only one Piece, it was still a Mutated Piece." I sighed relieved at that. If he took the Piece, even if it was just one, then that means he's still part of Rias' Peerage, and hasn't lost the Boosted Gear. But her reaction was something I wasn't expecting. She swallowed dry air again. "By the Maous... How am I going to explain this..."

I was completely bewildered by the reaction. "Okay, I'm lost." I finally said. "Isn't that a good thing? Now you have seven extra Pieces, three of them Mutated at that." I thought that would be a boon for her, not a problem.

"No! It isn't!" She shrieked at me. "Ise was already registered as being an Eight Piece Pawn. The only way for that to change that was if he was Promoted!"

"Huh... Oookaay... And that's a problem... How? Can't you change his registration or something?" I asked clueless.

"No." She answered almost pulling her hair in frustration. "It's already registered in the Office of Heraldry." Her eyes looked glazed then her head went down, defeated. "I'm going to be punished for this..."

"It was an accident..." I tried weakly.

"And they are going to try and learn how that happened..." She continued, despair filling her voice. "I'm going to be called a cheater..."

"Okay. First things first." I said trying to get situation under control. "How is he?"

"He's okay. He's okay." She said. "Just... the ritual must have taken its toll on his body, that's why he's unconscious."

"Alright... Now, what would be the best way to solve this issue..." I mused out loud then an idea struck me. "What if you traded him?"

She looked at me disbelievingly. "What?! Why?!" She hugged him possessively. "No! Never!"

"Not permanently. I meant, what if you traded him then received him back for another trade?" I asked her. "Would that still be a problem?"

"Well... no. It would seem strange... But not exactly wrong." I nodded at that and turned to Akeno who was still in the corner.

"Call Solveiga for me, please." The brunette look bewildered at me, but then nodded. Rias didn't understand but before she could do anything I asked. "Is there a procedure, a contract, something that must be done to make the Trade? All the Trades I did with the girls so far, I demanded contracts for them, but I don't know if those are standard procedure or not."

She looked at me wide eyed. "No. There's no actual need for contracts, just inform the Office of Heraldry." She then furrowed her brows. "Shirou, what are you thinking?"

"Ajuka told me that for all intents and purposes, even if I'm not a Devil, I'm still a King with a Peerage." I began explaining my idea to her. "The only exception is that I can't participate in Rating Games."

It dawned on her what I was talking about. "But Shirou, even if you can Trade, he's a Mutated Piece now. It would take all your eight Pawns to Trade him." She looked down at Ise again, her hopes seemingly dashed again.

"That's why I called Solveiga. She's a Mutated Piece too." Her head snapped in my direction so fast that if she didn't have whiplash was probably because she was Devil.

"You have a Mutated Piece?!" She asked with a mix of disbelief and horror on her voice.

"I have four actually." I answered her and the disbelief disappeared to be completely replaced with horror. "My Queen, my free Rook, my King Piece and a Pawn Piece." Just as I was finished counting them, the white haired, redeyed girl to entered the workshop. "And Solveiga here is that Mutated Pawn Piece."

She was gaping at me, then at the ex-Holy Maiden, then back at me. "What?"

I ignored her and turned to the Pawn. "Solveiga, I need a big favor." I explained the situation for the girl. "Can you do this for me, please?" I put both my hands together in a prayer position in front of the girl.

"Yes!" She answered immediately, and for a moment I thought I had made the question into a command. When I realized that I hadn't, I didn't know how to actually feel. On one hand, she was eager to help, but I couldn't say if it was because she wanted to help me or because she wanted to be part of Rias' Peerage.

Shaking my head, I looked back at the redhead. "So, with this we exchange them, then exchange them back and everything turns out okay, right?"

"We would need to maintain the Trade at least until tomorrow, or a registered Rating Game..." She said. "But yeah, it would solve the issue with the Office of Heraldry. We just need to come up with a cover story." She was still uneasy.

"That's easy. He's a pervert. You wanted to teach him a lesson about something." I said, already thinking about the situation. "You wanted to give him to a male King, but I was the only one available that was on hand and that you trusted."

Her face began to calculate the situation until her eyes lit up. "Yeah..." Then more assured. "Yeah! That'll work. I'll just have to say that when the Trade was undone he took only one Mutated Piece instead of eight normal ones..."

"Alright, now... How do we do it?" I asked.

"Just will the Piece form her, and I remove mine from him and we exchange." She said and was already pulling the Piece out of the boy.

I turned to the white haired girl. "Sorry to do this, but you're the only one who can help me right now."

The girl shook her head. "No, it's okay. I'm happy to be able to repay something, Shirou-sama." She looked back with her eyes shining. "If you need anything else, then just say it."

"No." Her eagerness was getting me uneasy. "That'll be quite alright." I put my hand near her chest and willed the Pawn Piece from her. She wobbled in place and I had to secure her. "Woah. Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm okay..." She said. "Just a little tired..." I eased her on the floor and Akeno supported her from behind. "Thank you, Akeno-sama."

I put the Piece to Ise's chest at the same time Rias put it to Solveiga's. It was a surprisingly easy affair after that. Ise's eyes shot up almost immediately, and the ex-Holy Maiden also showed signs of feeling better almost immediately too.

"What happened? What's this?" He looked at me. "Sempai-sama. What happened, why am I..."

"Sempai-sama?" I asked, mildly unnerved by that. I could feel the grin on Akeno and Rias. And I was with my back to them.

"What? What did I... say..." He looked at me with wide eyes, then at Rias, then back at me and I could feel the horror through his Piece and see it on his face. "Oh my God-OUCH!" He grimaced with the retribution. "I'm Sempai's Pawn..."

"Ise..." Rias looked at him with something in between amusement and sadness. "It's only temporary, to fix this mess Shirou created."

"I created?" I asked her, indignant. "I was trying to help!"

"Yeah, and almost cost me and all my Peerage their freedom!" She said getting to my face and a finger to my chest, poking it, and forcing me down with it. "Do you have any idea of what's the punishment for tampering with a Peerage? With the Pieces?"

"That's..." I actually didn't know. I did it twice already, with both Riser and Diodora, but both those cases were to show that they had tampered before. Her finger was actually winning the battle against my body, I was getting lower and lower. "But you didn't do anything..." I tried weakly.

"Until I proved that I didn't, everyone will already have made their own judgments of me." She said, anger rising in her tone. "Don't ever do... Whatever you did ever again!" She shouted in my face and my body gave up the fight. I sat seiza style in front of her. "For starters, why did you..." She started pacing from one side of the room to the other, in a way that reminded me eerily of how Saber would try and knock some sense into me.

She began to lecture in the finer points of being a King and I just sat there, watching dumbly as the redhead fumed. By the time she was done, my ears were ringing, Akeno at some point had gone out and brought a tray with tea for herself, Solveiga and Rias, and was watching the whole thing with a amused smirk on her face. Solveiga kept watching over the whole thing without knowing what to think, apparently, and was rather torn if she should say anything or not.

"...now promise me you'll never do that again." The redhead finished with a huff.

"Yes, Rias-sama. I'll never mess around with your Peerage ever again. If I ever see another of your Pieces I'll run away screaming like a little girl." It came out of my mouth with a conviction that I didn't know I had. If it wasn't delivered with the deadpan voice and thousand yard stare I was giving her, I'm sure she would think I was kidding around. I wasn't, really. If I ever see Rias with a chess piece in hand, even if it isn't an Evil Piece, I'll run for the hills, just in the off chance that I'll have to hear this lecture again.

"Now... Tomorrow morning I'll come here early for us to undo the exchange." She said, huffing again, then turned to Ise. "How is the Boosted Gear?"

He looked at her, feeling the way I was feeling because of the connection, then at his left arm. "Boosted Gear!" He called and the gauntlet appeared on his left hand. "Hmmm... Ddraig is not happy with me right now." He said weakly then winced. "Yeah, I know, but..." Then winced again. "No. No way! I'll never do that again!" Another wince and he looked at his arm with narrowed eyes. "We'll see then." And dismissed the gauntlet. He turned back to Rias. "Yeah... I think I lost at least three months of training because of this."

I sighed relieved and Rias looked pointedly at me. I immediately put both my hands up, surrendering. "Hey, if it is just training, then we can redouble his training time. He already knows most of the workouts, so he'll be back in shape in no time." Then out of nowhere I heard a clang on the floor. I looked at Ise again, and beside him sat a sword. I immediately knew what it was. Ascalon, the Sword Saint George used to kill a dragon, receiving the status as a Dragon Slayer sword and, since it was owned by an actual Saint, it was a Holy Sword too. And it was also different from the Ascalon I knew. It wasn't the Blessed Sword by Which Force is Slain, but had another legend entirely.

"Yeah..." Ise said weakly. "Ddraig said he won't be keeping my stuff anymore too."

"You stored the sword inside the Boosted Gear?" I asked.

"Well, yeah." He said looking at the sword on the ground. My hands made their way to my face as I sighed exasperatedly.

"Call Ddraig out again." I said to him and he looked at me bewildered, before he saw my face. I wasn't smiling anymore. He gulped dryly and did just that. "Tell me if he knows what" I called another sword from my arsenal. "this is."

"He say he knows." I nodded, dismissed and called another. "He knows that one too." I dismissed and called yet another. Ise just nodded. I kept calling more and more Noble Phantasms until Ise interjected. "He wants to know what are you doing?"

Apparently that question was echoed by the others in the room too. "Simple." I said, calling all of them at the same time, all pointing to his arm. "Tell him that I can replicate as many as I want of these Dragon Slayer swords, and that I can make them be Broken just as easily. If he's so old, he should know very well what a Broken Phantasm can do. Imagine what all of these can do at the same time."

He looked at me blankly then at the gauntlet and his eyes widened. Then his head snapped back at me.

"Now, tell him to play nice, and we'll not have to have this discussion again." Then I sighed. "And, in case he forgotten, Ascalon is a Dragon Slayer sword too. Isn't his objective to battle against the White Dragon Emperor, Albion? A sword like that would be useful."

The boy just looked blankly at me, then at his gauntlet. Another moment and he took the sword and it disappeared.

"Now, if we're quite done here..." I said, sitting down on the floor again. I was getting tired of this whole situation. I know I asked for a distraction from the whole problem I was having with the Beacon Spell, but this was too much.

"Now that that is out of the way." Rias had other ideas, apparently. "Ise!" She bellowed, raising her voice and the boy flinched. "Don't ever do something so stupid ever again." He closed his eyes, probably thinking that he was about to get struck, not what actually happened. Rias knelt in front of him and pulled him to her chest. "I don't want to lose you, my Ise."

I began to feel a little envious of the position that they were in, he was being held onto the valley between Rias' bountiful assets. Buchou's Oppai... His face getting that leery twinkle that it got whenever he was thinking about perverted stuff. In between her breasts...

Wait, what?

I shook my head. The connection between us was too strong. I was starting to feel it exactly what the boy was feeling.

"Please, Rias. Let him go." I pleaded her.

She looked at me quizzically without doing what I asked her. "Why?"

"Because his connection with me, the perverted feelings he has is contaminating the connection and I can feel it too." I said to her. "I can feel my Pieces more strongly than a normal King. And my Pieces can feel my feelings more strongly too. Imagine if those goes around my whole connection in a closed loop."

"Oh? So are you feeling perverted too, Onii-sama?" Akeno hugged me from behind and Solveiga squeaked. I had to realize, yet again, how well developed the girl was. Her soft mounds touching my back, her arms enveloping my torso, her hands exploring my stomach, her soft scent flitting around her body, her breath on my ear...

"Ise!" I shouted while getting up faster than I really needed. "Come with me, we're going to take a cold shower then I'm going to lock you up inside the panic room." I pulled the boy by the scruff of his neck. "No way I'm dealing with this the whole time you're with me."

"Yes, Sempai-sama!" He said jumping in place to his feet, and only then I realized that in my hurry to get away from the temptation, I said in a commanding tone. Well, at least that still works. Good to know. I could also hear the soft laughs from both Rias and Akeno behind me as I left.

By Zelretch's fake beard. I'm going to have to deal with this pervert until tomorrow. That can't be good.

* * *

With Ise temporarily linked to me, instead of Rias, to make the story more believable, he would spend the rest of the day and the night with me instead of going home. The moment we entered the house I almost made good on my promise to lock him on the Panic Room, but in the end I didn't have the heart to do it. For one, it was his nature, and he wasn't actually to blame for the situation we were in. He was to blame for selling his arm to Ddraig in the first place, but given the situation, I'm the last person who could say anything about doing stupid things in trying to protect others.

Asia seemed delighted to know that her crush would spend the night in the house though. I honestly didn't know how to feel about the situation. On one hand seeing her face lit up with joy when she discovered that Ise would be here for the night was endearing, but it also meant that she wasn't leery at all to be under the same roof as the pervert.

All those thoughts though were put aside when I heard my cellphone ring, and when I saw who was calling. "Good afternoon, Sakura-san." Caller ID. Who would've thought that you could know who was calling you even before you answered a call? It was little marvels like that that cemented the idea in my head that I was going to get some cellphones for everyone back home when I get back. I mean, the damn things are more useful than just for calls. You could even write whole letters on them, without wasting paper!

The Internet was also available in it. I could actually search the meaning of certain runes on the internet. It wasn't at all accurate, I think because the Runes themselves were translated to and from other languages before the information was put up by some historian or something, but it was useful to know that you don't combine the 'Ansuz' rune with the 'Kenaz' rune if you didn't want to create a fire that could destroy a house given enough mana.

"Good afternoon, Emiya-san." The woman answered. "I'm calling about the test."

"Ah, sure. Go ahead." I cursed inwardly. This situation had completely slipped my mind. I hadn't put any of the contingencies I had planned in place about it yet. "When are the results coming?"

"About that..." She began but faltered and lapsed into silence.

"Sakura-san?" I asked after her pause had gone one moment too long.

"Emiya-san... I'm really sorry..." She said measuring her words. "It seems that the test had a few problems... They are redoing them and will take another week for it to be finished. Apparently they mixed the samples and tried to make the comparison using two samples from either you or my husband instead of one against the other."

"Huh..." I faked a surprise tone. "What kind of laboratory did you guys hired?" I knew that it was probably not any kind of mix up, but since the results were identical, they decided that they somehow mixed the samples. It probably meant that we shared identical DNA.

"I'm really, really sorry. Father has already verbally beaten down on the people of the lab, but it seems that they couldn't help it." She said apologetically. "They even tried to say that you two were twins, but when we pointed out the age differences they had to relent and redo the tests."

"Oh..." I paused processing the information.

"Anyway, I'm sorry again. As soon as we receive the real results we'll talk to you again." The woman sounded so apologetic that it reminded way too much of my Sakura when we found out about the Shards of the Grail inside her. The purple haired girl felt like it was her fault that a three hundred year old Magus decided to use her body as his next plaything. It heckled the already protective streak I had towards her.

It wasn't actually all that long after I had returned to Fuyuki City when I reconnected with the then Matou Sakura, and, with all the insight I had about Magecraft and after having gone in quite a few Dead Apostle Hunts, that I recognized the scent coming from the girl as the same as the Grail. From there to actually make the girl spill everything that actually happened to her during her stay at the old Magus dungeon, because no way in hell that was a workshop, that I had done practically the same thing I did with Akeno. Kidnapped her and using all the knowledge, however limited, she had about Zouken's practices, to call him into being a danger to Thaumaturgy's Secrecy and being branded a Sealing Designee. While the team of Enforcers appeared to deal with the worm me and Rin spent the whole time the hunt was on, protecting Sakura.

While Rin created Boundary Field into Boundary Field, all of them designed to either keep out contact with familiars, to target Zouken's Soul, or even just protect Sakura herself, I spent the whole time near the girl inside a isolation circle cutting down any whiff I caught of foreign Prana that entered the rather large Boundary Field. That hadn't been a fun week, but as a result I spent so much time protecting the lilac haired girl, that nowadays anything that happened to her I took it personally.

"Emiya-san?" It was only when I heard the woman's voice again that I realized that I had taken a little trip down memory lane.

"Sorry." I said, getting my bearings back. "It's okay, don't worry. Just tell me when they are done, alright?"

"Erm... S-Sure..." She stuttered on her response, taken aback. "Then I'll call you later. Goodbye, Emiya-san."

"Goodbye, Sakura-san." I answered in kind just in time to hear the front gate bell resound. As I was about to go answer I saw Akeno passing by my side.

"I'll get it." She went to the door and into the front yard.

"Ise," I said looking at the pervert who just now was entering the room accompanied by Asia. "Asia, where are you two going?"

"To do our homework." The pervert responded. "Ravel-chan said that she would help me with some problems in mathematics that I don't understand."

"You do know that Ravel is a first year, right?" I tilted my head to the boy.

"But she's really smart, Onii-chan." Asia answered in turn. "And I'll be there too." The girl answered with a small measure of pride in her voice.

"Shirou..." Akeno came back inside cutting off my train of thought. "There's someone waiting for you at the gate."

"We'll be going, Onii-chan." Asia said, pulling Ise by the arm through the hallway to the dorm. I nodded to the former Sister and looked back to Akeno.

"So, who is it?" I asked the brunette.

"Archangel Gabriel." She answered just as I was stepping out of the house. I almost tripped over my own feet, but managed to only stutter on my step, but it was enough for the brunette the giggle at my antics. I shot her an annoyed look and went to the gate.

When I got there, I saw the blonde woman Akeno identified as Gabriel. Another realization struck me at that point. I'm seriously getting inured to beautiful people in my life. Is there a single supernatural creature that isn't beautiful in some way? Even Raynare was cute. Heck, even Kokabiel had that whole demonic-angelic beauty going. This one actually looked like the prototypical angelic figure, with curly blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a sundress and holding a briefcase to her waist, while looking around curiously, from side to side, taking in the scenery as if she never saw it before. "Good evening."

"Ah!" The Angel finally registered that there was someone in front of her. "Good evening, Emiya Shirou." The woman bowed then smiled brightly. "I'm Gabriel, and have come to deliver a message from Michael."

Right, Gabriel was known as the Messenger from God. Though, now that I think about it, wasn't Gabriel male? In my universe at least it was. Well, King Arthur was actually Arturia, so it isn't that farfetched that some things changed here too, or maybe they weren't recorded correctly. "Sure, come on in." I gestured to the Archangel.

Once inside the house, I motioned for the woman to sit down and was about to go to the kitchen when Akeno was coming back with a tray. I nodded, thankful to the brunette who was still acting a little cold towards me since the incident earlier and sat myself in front of the Archangel. "Okay. What's this about?"

Before she could answer I heard a shriek coming from the hallway to the dorm, followed by a stampede. Swiveling my head in that direction only to see Ise suddenly tumbling down on the corridor. I winced when I saw him fall on the floor right in front doorway. "Sempai-sama! Help!"

"Get back here!" Xuelan's voice carried through the hallway, before Ise disappeared again on the door, being slid back while he tried to claw his way on the floorboards. "You'll have to understand this otherwise..." Her voice was getting lower and lower and I couldn't actually hear the rest of the statement.

There was a pregnant silence in the room before I turned back to the Archangel, shrugging. "You were saying?"

Apparently she was still thinking about the situation and the shrieks we still could hear from here from time to time. "What was that?"

"I have no idea, but if I had to guess I'd say either the pervert did something perverted or he's trying to flee a study session." I answered in the most serious tone I could muster, just so I didn't facepalm.

"Really?" The woman asked again, confused. "Isn't corporal punishment a little harsh for something so insignificant?"

I raised an eyebrow at the Angel. "Insignificant? Well, let's see, Ise isn't one of the brightest people I know when it doesn't involve something perverted in some way, and is also known to spend ninety percent of his time with perverted stuff then the other ten thinking about perverted stuff, so you tell me."

She knit her brows. "Is being perverted really that bad?"

The woman asked in such a clueless tone and confused face that I could do nothing but gape at her. Akeno began to try and stifle a giggle beside us while I shot her an annoyed look.

"I mean, perverted things are bad, I know that much, but should he need to suffer so much because of them?" She amended.

"You don't interact much with normal people, do you?" I said. If this Gabriel was the same as the one in my world, she rarely left Heaven, only when she had to deliver a message from God, and since God was dead, I imagine that Michael only asked her to deliver messages to people from the Church.

The Angel actually blushed. "Well, no. Not really." She said, poking both index fingers to one another. It made her look so cute that I had the sudden vision of her, Asia and Gasper in a flowery field chasing after bunnies.

I shook my head to clear the thought. "Well, what you are seeing is actually normal." Then thought again. "Okay, not normal, but whatever the case I am willing to think that he deserves it. Of that I'm sure."

She still didn't look convinced but nodded anyway. "Well, if you say so..."

"So, what's the message?" I said, trying to get this meeting back on track.

"Oh, right. Sorry. I come so little to the human world that I got sidetracked." She opened her briefcase and pulled out a scroll. She unrolled and, coughing on her hand once, began to read. "To Emiya Shirou. For services rendered to Heaven during the Peace Conference, we have an offer to make you. It came to my knowledge that you have denied interest in being turned into a Reincarnated Devil, and after our conversation I could discern that you have no interest of becoming a Reincarnated Angel, as well. Ajuka Beelzebub explained to me that you have a King Piece with you, making you a King under the Devil's Evil Piece system. We thought that you would be better rewarded receiving the same type of attention from Heaven as you received from the Underworld, as such, I have instructed Gabriel to give you a Deck and explain to you the Brave Saint system. From Michael." I don't know if I should be impressed or horrified that the woman managed to read all of that in a single breath, then again, Angel, not human. Maybe she doesn't even need to breathe.

Then the contents of the message hit me. "Brave Saint? Deck? What?"

She rolled the scroll again and pulled a small stack of cards from the briefcase. "Here." She presented me both the scroll and the cards. "These are the Cards used in the Brave Saint system. With these cards you should be able to Reincarnate almost any other living being into an Angel."

"What!?" My voice came out as a shout. "Why in the name of the Root would I want to do that?"

She cocked her head aside, knitting her brows confused. "Well, according to Michael, you have a set of Evil Pieces that can Reincarnate others into Devils, and you distinguished yourself well enough to be recognized as an ally for Heaven as well."

"I don't..." My voice was coming out harsher than I expected, so I took a deep breath. "Look, whatever information Michael received, it was clearly faulty in some way. I don't have the Evil Pieces because I, as you said, distinguished myself for the Devils. I have them because that was the only way I could protect the girls on the dorm. I don't _want_ to go around Reincarnating people. Heck, I don't even know how!" Well, it didn't help. Even trying to calm down wasn't enough, and my voice continued to grow more and more sharp.

"I'm sorry." I swear that this Angel, this millennia old being, had her lips quivering and her eyes were filling with unshed tears. "I'm only the messenger. I can take a message back, but I have to deliver these to you first."

I could see the saying 'Don't shoot the messenger' somehow being related to this woman. "Alright, then tell him that I don't want to go around Reincarnating Angels. Or Devils for that matter."

"I could teach you..." She said weakly, before I shot her another glare involuntarily.

"No, thank you." I answered her with as much forced calm as I could muster, which wasn't much.

She looked at the cards then back at me. "You know, it's a great honor to be one of the first to receive a Deck like this." She said, her eyes still moist, but her face was back to a clueless one I was becoming used to. "There are only eight Decks in total so far, this one included, and the others all belong to Seraphs."

I gaped at that. "What?! Then why am I receiving this?"

"As I said, Michael was the one who decided to give it to you." She pointed to the scroll. "It's all there."

I hung my head. "Okay." I sighed shaking my head slowly. "So, anything else?"

"Yes, I still have to explain how it works." She was perking up at having apparently cleared the first stage.

"I don't need to know how it works." I answered her. "I'm not going to accept it."

"But-But-But-" Her lip quivered again. Seriously, is this woman the same as Levia-tan? Is this some kind of curse that powerful women on the supernatural world need to be bipolar or something? There's Marlianna-san, Levia-tan, and now Gabriel. Grayfia-san is the exception that corroborates the rule, apparently though she too dresses in a not so normal way. "But I need to finish the mission."

I relented to her. No way I'm going to escape this one, not when I can't look at her crying eyes and not think about Asia doing the same. "Okay, go ahead."

Again she perked up and I resisted the urge to bang my head on the center table. She began explaining what the Brave Saints was. Basically it was the Peerage system, but instead of using chess they used playing cards. I almost asked her if Poker was a Divine Game, or if it was revered as much as Chess seems to be by the Devils. I didn't actually need to, because the idea was basically the same as the Evil Pieces. But just the idea, the actual use of them was somewhat different. For starters, only the Ace, Queen and Jack had special properties, the King being the Seraph himself or, in this case, me. All the other cards would equal a Pawn, only a little stronger than a single Pawn was. The interesting part was that they had teamwork imbued in their use, instead of the Promotion that the Pawns had. Their power ups were all based on Poker, Blackjack and other Card games.

For example, if I had a five people from the same suite, but from different Decks fighting against the same enemy, they formed a Flush and the people forming it would receive a boost in their strength, but if they were all from the same Deck, they didn't receive the same boost. If five people with sequential numbers, from the same Deck or not, battled together, they formed a Straight and received a boost as well, but only formed a Straight Flush if they were from different Decks. It was a weird concept, and I had a hard time trying to understand it, but at least the part about a flush only working with different decks I understood, since all the cards in a Deck were of the same suite, they would all form a flush all the time.

They also had power ups if fighting in one pair, two pairs, three of a kind, four of a kind, full house, and so on. I thought that it would be all based on Poker, but it was actually at this point that things turned weird. Well, weirder. If an Ace paired with a Ten, a Jack, a Queen or a King, they would form a Blackjack, and receive another type of power boost, same as if a four, a six, a nine and two, fought together they would add up to twenty one and receive another type of boost as well.

I almost asked what it meant if the sum busted, but decided against it. It was already getting on my nerves what she was telling me anyway. In the end, what the Brave Saint system boiled down to was the same as the Evil Piece system. In the Devil's case was the low birthrates of the species that was making them go extinct, and in the Angels case, since God was dead, there wasn't anyone who could create new Angels. The Brave Saints were just that. A way for them to replenish their numbers again.

When Gabriel finished her explanations, and asked if I had any question, I almost blurted out that I had many, but decided against it. There's no way that I'll ever use them. "So, was that all?"

"Yes, with the explanation, our business is concluded." The woman smiled brightly.

"So you'll deliver my message to Michael?" I asked again, just to be sure.

"That you'll not go around Reincarnating Angels or Devils and you don't even know how to do it." She nodded to herself. "Anything else?"

"Yes. What do I do with these?" I said, pointing to the Cards.

With a wave of her hand, the Deck disappeared, and I blinked. "They'll always be with you. You only need to will them and they'll appear for you." Then she waved her hand again. "But only after you receive the King Card."

"King again?" I asked incredulously. "You know what? Forget it." I said after seeing that the woman was about to start crying again. I pulled the Deck and selected the aforementioned card and analyzed it. Fittingly enough it was a Deck of Spades. I almost laughed at the irony. After making sure there wasn't any traps in it, I conceptualized it and pulled inside me the same way I did with the King Piece and Avalon. It was getting crowded in my Soul with all the junk I've been putting inside my body. When I looked back at the Cards I could understand what she meant with making them disappear. I only looked at them and they did just that. I could will them into existence just by thinking about it again. That brought me another thought. Could I do the same with the Evil Pieces?

"Perfect." The woman clapped her hands together, once again bringing me back to the conversation. "I thought you would need to chant the spell for it to do that, but since you already knew it, then there was no need." She nodded to herself. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I just conceptualized a Sacred Artifact to be inside me. It was probably foolish for me to have done that, since Michael wanted to know more about Avalon, but at this point, I couldn't care less. I was tired, hungry and still had to make dinner.

"Is there anything else?" I asked again, already dreading.

"No. That was all. Now I have to go, there are other messages to deliver." She smiled at me and I began to notice the curves on her body, the way one piece white dress she was wearing realced her femininity, and the way her hair flowed in the middle of the valley of her breasts as she leaned forward to get up. Her nipples almost giving a slip.

My eyes widened and I yelled in the direction of the corridor. "ISE!" The Angel's head whipped in my direction at the same time the pervert appeared on the doorway. "Cold shower, now!" He looked at me and was about to complain, but then looked at my hand and the weapon I had traced. He knew it very well from training. He gulped and went directly to the bathroom. At least I didn't need to make it an order for him to do what I wanted.

"What is that?" The Archangel sat back down stunned while pointing to the weapon I had traced wide eyed.

"Oh? This? This is one of the most vile weapons on my arsenal." With the pendant in the form of a tiger dangling from the guard, that seemed to purr with delight at being used on the flesh of other beings, this shinai had been used by the kendoist known, admired and reviled only by the moniker of the Tiger of Fuyuki, Torashinai was emitting an ominous aura. It had been used in so many matches when Fuji-nee was still active that this weapon let out afterwaves of sound after being used on other people that one could confuse for the gleeful cackle of a madman.

Dismissing the shinai I smiled at the Archangel with a innocent face.

"I was going to invite you for dinner, but if you're in a hurry, that's okay." I swear in that moment I heard a sound that I hadn't heard in months. The growl of a monster, err, the stomach of a blonde haired girl. Last time was Asia, this time I didn't even need to look to confirm that the Angel was flushing redder than should be healthy.

I sighed defeated.

"Sit." And the blonde complied. "Can you keep her company for now?" I asked Akeno while I got up, moving to the kitchen. The brunette only nodded.

Well, there was worse things that coul-

I cut my own thought. There's tempting fate and then there's taunting it.

I know for a fact that it is prankster.

* * *

Finals. Oh, how I hate thee.

Why had I needed to go through finals again? I mean, they should be easy since I already passed through them, and thanks to all the training I was doing with the calculations for the spells, I aced both Mathematics and Physics. The bane of my existence turned out to be philosophy, and I repeat, why in the name of Akasha do highschoolers have to study philosophy? I mean, I didn't have this subject when I was in high school, so maybe it was something specific for Kuoh Academy? I didn't actually know.

Another problem I was facing at the moment was that Akeno was still miffed with me, because I said that she had been sleeping with Ise. How many times I'll fall through the same pitfalls that I warned others not to? I said time and again during training that you shouldn't ever assume anything on the battlefield. Granted, the situation wasn't a battle, but I did assume to know more than I should. In the end the misunderstanding was solved and it turned out alright, right?

Nope. Not even close. The girl had been shooting me some pretty harsh looks ever since, and I was running out of ideas about what to do. Even worse was that she was the one I had been accustomed to go to, to explain things that I didn't understand during classes, and now I was in this situation with her.

At least the whole fiasco made one thing better. Ise became more driven than I had ever seen him. Not even during the training camp when he was irritated with Riser he had this one-track mind that he had nowadays. I sincerely expected him to stop during the tests at least, but no, from what Quarta and Shidou told me, he read the textbooks at home while doing pushups and other exercises.

Ise wasn't the only one though. I too had something I wanted explained to me and had accosted both Meguri and Kusaka some days ago, to make them explain why they were avoiding me. It turns out that the rumors back then had gotten to them as well, and according to some of the rumors they were going to be my next targets to get into my harem. After the four culprits had come clean with their false rumors, they didn't know how to apologize to me about believing the stories in the first place. When they explained that to me, while blushing, I began to laugh so hard that I literally doubled over in the middle of the corridor, making them both blush even harder.

At least now they are acting like they did before with me, specially Kusaka, who has offered herself to teach me more about the spells she knew and to research things of interest for me in the Tomes. She also promised me to review my notes to try and discover if it was possible to refine my spells the way I wanted to, and worse come to worse, she would talk with Shitori, since her King was even more proficient with the spells than herself.

Speaking of Shitori, I noticed that she had been talking a lot lately with Candida, Khalilah and Chevonne, even inviting them to be honorary members of the Student Council. I raised an eyebrow at that, since as far as I knew, only her Peerage members were members of the Student Council. Though that wasn't all that troublesome, just unexpected. Apparently the three of them had been designated as part of Shitori's team during the Peace Conference after I was out, and she had been impressed by the way the three of them acted during the whole incident. To be honest, I expect Shitori to appear at my doorstep in a few days with a proposal for them. Solveiga too, apparently had impressed Rias during the day she spent with her and I was expecting to receive a proposal for her in short order, since Rias now had seven unused Pawns and three of them were mutated.

After the whole thing was over during the conference, there was a new addition to the school too. Apparently Shidou had transferred in, as part of a mission from Heaven, and she was now the Ace from Michael. It took me a minute to understand what that meant. Shidou was now an Reincarnated Angel and that made me frown. Granted she was apparently acting better nowadays but an extremist's thought process isn't changed that easily. At least it seemed that she made peace with Asia and Quarta, and they formed something of a small club inside the Occult Research Club. Her mission was probably defend the Owners from what Michael had said when he visited me.

Another thing that happened in the last few days was that with Shidou with a permanent residence in Kuoh Town I had been seeing Gabriel a lot more lately. And I swear that she chooses the dates she comes to visit to coincide with the days I have to cook dinner because she had become almost a staple of the house during dinner the same way Koneko became one during breakfast. If it wasn't for the fact she only came when I was the one cooking and not the girls, then I wouldn't have minded, but since she did, I was the one who had to deal with the aftermath of the girls looking cross with the situation.

Anyway, now with Shidou as an unofficial member of the Occult Research Club, the place was a small gathering of the three Factions inside the school, since Azazel had resigned from his position as the head of the Grigori and now was a teacher at Kuoh Academy and the Advisor for the club. The man had come to talk to me a few times, but he's too much like one of the Lords of the Clock Tower for me to be comfortable with him, so I had only talked with him politely a few times and was doing my level best to not go into the Occult Research Clubroom these days.

Today had been the last day of the finals and since I had lost my main source of help for studying together in Akeno, I had to use my last resort, Xuelan. Seriously, if you look for a definition on the encyclopedia for the expression 'don't judge a book by its cover' her picture should appear beside it immediately. The girl was boisterous, loud, brash and couldn't sit still for more than five minutes, not to mention that she had a little problem with her underwear... or lack thereof. I mean, she literally had to be watched by the other girls otherwise she would get out of the house going commando the whole day without a care in the world, which didn't help her way of life since she couldn't stop moving for too much time, often times inhaling her food just so that she could continue moving, but she was smart, and I mean really smart. She could have skipped grades and gone directly to Kuoh University if she wanted but she decided to stay behind a year so she could continue with the other girls, so she wouldn't be alone in the University if she went there. My main problem with her was that while she could understand everything on the textbooks and could explain things in a easy to understand manner, it was actually hard for me to keep her sitting still long enough to be able to explain the problems that appeared during our study sessions.

But that now was over with and at the moment I am inside my workshop, having finished casting the beacon for today and was feeling stressed out for some reason. Not because of the tests, I knew I had passed them all, if only barely in some subjects, but had passed. The beacon was still going through like normal, and I had even thought that maybe it was because of the lack of visible results that the spell was working but dismissed the thought out of hand.

It was something else that was making me tense, but I couldn't for the life of me pinpoint it. I traced another arrow, notched and fired, nailing it inside the 'O' of one of the pamphlets to summon Rias' Peerage that she had forgotten here the day she brought Ise to ask for help. Dismissing the arrow and tracing another one I fired again, pulling the string more strongly than before.

I repeated that motion for I don't know how long, until the string on the bow broke and caught me in the face with the recoil. I passed a thumb over the cut on my face, feeling the trickle of blood, before sighing, dismissing both the bow and the arrows still stuck to the hay stack. The piece of paper was completely destroyed at this point. I sat down in the middle of the Formalcraft circle trying to relax. Today was Akeno and Asia's day to cook, so I wasn't worried about dinner, but I was feeling down for some reason.

Looking at the gloominess of the workshop I shot a look at the corner opposite where the hay stack was, remembering about my forge back in my world. Should I invest in one here too? There had been several ideas about altered weapons floating in my head that I thought about forging, but didn't have a place to. Money wasn't a problem for me anymore, since I received the payment for the job at the Peace Conference, plus a bonus because I had recovered several of the Demonic Swords from Siegfried, helped defeat the Dragon and gave a devastating blow to the Hero Faction, who as it turns out had bounties on their heads from the Devils, Church and Fallen alike.

But the more I thought about it, the more it felt wrong for some reason. My forge was the one in my shared workshop, back in my homeworld, back on my house. "My home, huh..." I said to myself. The more time I spent here, the more I change things here, the more I feel actually at home in this universe. I know I shouldn't. Rin had said once that Zelretch had made that very clear for her. You could visit other realities and even spend some time there, but you had to make sure to go back, and not fix residence there. The more time someone spent in another universe, the easier it was for Gaia to invoke the Counter Force to get rid of the catalyst that had created that unnatural branch in that universe. The Root didn't actually like that people created other branch worlds, and actively went after these factors in order to get rid of them to begin the merger once again.

It was one of the points of contention I had actually. I had been in this world for almost a year already, and nothing of the Counter Force being sent after me. Well, maybe it was because Gaia itself was a non-issue in this world, since the Age of the Gods hadn't ended here? It was a possibility.

But even these thoughts circled back to the darkness inside the workshop, mirroring what I was feeling. Maybe I really should build a forge here, or at least put an anvil and make a sharpening corner. This shed was mostly empty space, with only a worktable, two benches and a Formalcraft circle on the floor. If I began to forge again I knew I would need even more space since I was something of a hoarder when it came to my blades. There was also the hay stacks on the corner. I noticed offhandedly that I needed to buy some more haystacks. These ones are already completely perforated, beyond possibility of repair.

Then I sat down feeling a welling up in my chest and did something that I rarely do, even back in my homeworld. Only two things can make me trace this weapon. Either when I am in a battle that calls for it to be used, or when I'm feeling this depressed. The blade began to hover in front of me, spinning in its axis slowly in mid air, and I began to admire its properties, the craftsmanship, the runes that gave its powers.

Caliburn, the Golden Sword of the Victorious, the Sword of The Stone, the Sword of Selection. The inscription at its hilt telling that whoever was able to pull the sword from the stone would be the rightful king of England. Saber's sword. While Excalibur is more well known since her legend became more widespread while she wielded it, Caliburn was the sword she always felt more kinship with, because it was the sword that made her what she was. The King.

"It's beautiful." I heard the voice behind me, moments before I felt a chin on my shoulder and a pair of arms around my waist.

"Yeah." I sighed, letting it fall and stake itself on the floor in front of me. "This was one of the first Noble Phantasms I had ever seen. It was used by Saber during the Grail War."

"It's like Avalon." I heard the wonder on her voice. "Even close like this I can feel that its a Holy Sword, but isn't harmful..."

"Not surprising. This sword is the pinnacle of contradiction." I said, chuckling. "In the legend, once this sword was pulled from the stone, King Arthur stopped being human. Merlin had said that a King is someone who kills everyone to protect everyone. Many thought it was a curse while others thought it was a blessing, but because it was actually a ceremonial sword for the selection of the King and not actually a sword made to be used as a weapon, it broke in battle when the rules of chivalry were forgotten by the wielder herself. It has some of the same properties of Avalon though, and stopped her aging the moment she pulled it from the stone."

"You mean 'he', right?" She said. "You keep talking about King Arthur as if he was a she."

"King Arthur was a she, actually. At least, the version of her I know was. It was even in her legend, though if you didn't know that in advance you would think it had some other reason. Her father, when he realized that he didn't have a boy to inherit the throne, but a girl, decided to ask Merlin to take her away from the palace and hide her in the countryside." I sighed. "Arturia Pendragon was her name."

"Hummm... But here is actually Arthur, right?" She asked, putting her chin on my shoulder and enveloping my torso with her arms.

I was about to deny her but then thought better. "I don't actually know. Maybe. I mean, I didn't find any difference like this so far in any of the blades I saw, so I can't be sure." I answered as my eyes hovered the length of the sword. "The contract she made with Alaya let her chase after the Grail for as long as she wished, before she would be whisked away to Avalon upon her death."

We spent a few moments in silence, admiring the blade, before he asked. "Why did you projected it?"

"I don't know... I was feeling down and I felt Caliburn calling to me." I shrugged. "Sometimes it happens like this. A weapon wants to be used and begins to call out to me." I chuckled dejectedly. "Rin used to say that its all in my head, but sometimes I feel like they do that. Maybe because of my Origin."

"Swordhead." She said chuckling while pressing her face on my shoulder and neck. "You never told me what exactly is an Origin, though."

"The textbook definition would be that the Origin is the starting point of one's existence and will define that existence for their entire lives, but as always when it comes to Magecraft the truth is a little more complex than that. When one discovers their Origin, they can sometimes become overspecialized like I am. Normally I wouldn't be able to use any Magecraft that is related to the five great elements, but on the other hand, I can perform much better almost anything that is related to swords and, to a lesser extent, other weapons."

"But then... Oh, right. Your Element is also Sword, right?" I nodded. "I wonder what is my Element and Origin..."

"I don't want you to stunt your development by knowing them." I said to the girl. "Origin and Element can be changed. Mine changed over the years to what it is now. Rin, for example, didn't know her Element and began to practice with all five since the beginning, and now she has affinity to all five of them. She's called an Average One because of that, and despite what the name would imply, is actually quite the honor. To be able to wield all five of the basic elements through Magecraft is something quite difficult. I want the same for you and Rias, but I think you know your elemental affinity already, right?"

"Lightning." She answered but she seemed a little sour about it.

"Well, you are the Priestess of Thunder, right?" I needled her. Lightning isn't one of the Five Great Elements in the Magecraft I know, but more of a combination of elements, then again Sword too isn't a primary Element. Devils can manipulate all elements as a matter of course, but all of them have more affinity to one of them than others.

She gave a huff and stayed quiet for some time after that, before changing the subject. "You know, I'm still mad at you."

"And I already apologized several times, didn't I?" I sighed. "What do I have to do for you to forgive me?"

"Hummm..." She stopped after humming stretching the moment for a little too long, making me sweat. This girl had a mischievous streak that could give Rin a run for her money on her more playful times. Though when she finally gave her answer I had to take another moment to recalibrate my sense of reality. "A date."

"A date?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in the darkness. "What do you mean?"

"I want you..." She said and moved herself to sit on my lap, while looking up at me. "to take me on a date."

I looked at her, but couldn't actually see her face in the darkness. "I got that part... What I don't get is why you want a date."

"You're the one who asked what it would take for me to forgive you, right?" She said, putting her temple on my shoulder, making her forehead stay just below my chin.

I was stunned silent. Why in the name of the Root she wanted that so much that she had that to use our current situation to blackmail me into accepting? Regardless, if that was what she wanted... "Very well, if that's what you want, then you got it." I put a hand on her head, smoothing her hair, making her hum happily.

We stayed like that for some time, only enjoying each other's company. We only moved when we heard a cry of "Onii-chan! Akeno-san!" coming from the house.

Apparently Asia had asked Akeno to make dinner alone today and had just finished. The girl in my lap hugged me tighter one more time, before moving herself away from her perch. "Why were you in the dark?"

"You ask me this now?" I snickered.

"Well, I just realized that the switch wasn't flipped." She said with a pout.

I dismissed Caliburn as I got up myself, moving past her and pulling her on a one armed hug, and kissed the top of her head. "Yeah, well, it wasn't dark when I began." I explained to the girl, letting her go and moving inside the house. Strangely my talk with the brunette lifted the cloud that was over my head since earlier, and I wasn't feeling as depressed as before.

During dinner I noticed that Asia kept fidgeting the whole time, while watching both me and Akeno eat, not eating almost anything herself. When I finished she looked at me with the same expectation of a kid being graded about their performance on a skill test. "Very good, Asia." I said smiling at the girl. "You improved a lot." And I wasn't lying. At first she couldn't cook Japanese food at all, but now she was doing just fine to be able to have her own days of cooking alone.

"Really?" She asked, still looking a little uncertain.

"I told you, didn't I?" Akeno answered while I patted the girl on the head. "But nooo, you don't believe me. It has to be Shirou." I ignored the byplay and began to gather the dishes from the table, getting up myself to bring them to the kitchen.

The Nun pouted a little. "It's not that I didn't believe you, Akeno-san, it's just that Onii-chan is a guy, and their tastes are different."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you wanted to know a guy's opinion then?"

She turned to me immediately with a shout slamming both her hands on the table on either side of her bowl, making the cutlery all clatter. "Yes!" I had only asked to tease her, but her reaction was more intense and eager than I anticipated, making me blink in surprise.

"She has a date with Issei-kun tomorrow and wants to make a lunchbox for them." Akeno supplied to which the Nun turned bright red and sat down, eyes looking at the table.

"Ah... I see." I nodded to myself. "So, he asked you out on a date, huh?" I was a little happy for the girl. If Ise had finally realized that the girl was head over heels for him, then maybe he would stop being the pervert that he is and direct all his perverseness... only to the girl... he's dating...

"Onii-chan?!" "Shirou!" Both girls shouted at the same time and I stared back at them in confusion, but they weren't looking at my face, but my hands. When I looked down I realized what had happened. Apparently while thinking about Ise directing his lust to Asia I had gripped on the bowl a little too hard and crushed it on my grip, sending shards flying all around.

"Oh. Sorry." I said sheepishly.

"Well," Akeno began, a smirk making its way into her features. "I don't think Issei-kun will survive if he treats you wrong in any way, Asia-chan."

I snorted. "Oh, no. He will. Don't worry." I said to the Shrine Maiden while kneeling down to collect the shards.

"What do you mean?" I heard the confusion on the brunette's words.

"Well, he can't suffer if he's dead, so I'll make sure he continues to live for as long as I can." I explained to the girl, then mused out loud. "You know... There's some combination of runes that could maintain a body alive even with the blood drained from them... Though the subject would be in pain enough to wish to die, but hey... That's the intention, right?"

"No!" Asia shouted from her position realizing what that would entail for her crush. "You don't need to do anything! Issei-san is kind!"

I chuckled. "Sure he is, Asia. Sure he is." Then I turned to her, making her yelp with the harshness in my eyes. "Doesn't mean he can't make you suffer though."

"The pot calling the kettle black." Akeno said, but the amusement was a little edgy this time.

"What?" I asked her.

"Oh, nothing, Shirou. Nothing at all." She shaked her head with a resigned sigh. "By the way, it wasn't the pervert who asked her out, but she won a bet with the other girls on the club and forced him to accept the results."

I looked at her then at the girl in question. "Bet?"

"She, Xenovia and Irina bet whether Issei-kun would participate on any competition during the Sports Day or not." Akeno continued. "Asia won, and she'll also participate in the three legged race with him."

"Hummm... Interesting." Then I frowned. "I don't remember anything like this in our class though. Third years don't participate?"

"Oh, we do. It's just that there almost no guys on the third year, so they will all participate in the same competition. The marathon." Akeno explained.

"Huh... Never actually got participate in one of those." I mused out loud, finally finished with gathering the pieces from the ground. "My school wasn't big on these events. They did have a cultural festival though."

"The cultural festival is after Summer Vacation." She said.

I hummed at her and went to the kitchen, dumping the broken bowl on the trash bin. Thankfully it was mine that broke and not one of theirs. Then went to the stove to boil some water for an after meal tea. "So, you'll want to make breakfast tomorrow too, Asia?" I asked loudly from the kitchen.

"You'll let me?" The girl appeared on the doorway in flash, her eyes sparkling.

"Sure." I chuckled at her antics.

"Yes!" She tackled my side. "Thank you, Onii-chan!"

"You're welcome." Then I turned a stern stare at her. "If he does anything, anything at all that you are not comfortable with, tell me, alright?"

"Sure." She smiled at me, the implications of my question apparently flying over her head. Then she darted inside the house again, and by the sound of it, she was going to the dorm.

"She doesn't get it, does she?" I asked Akeno when she entered the kitchen carrying the rest of the dishes.

"No. I don't think she does." She answered, going to the sink.

I looked at the pot boil the water for a few moments before turning to Akeno when something hit me. "Wait, don't tell me you want our date for tomorrow too."

"Yes." She answered with a smile that had edges to it. Actually the edges of her smile had edges to them. It made me shiver.

"So this date is actually a stalking session?" I asked the girl.

"No." She said, turning herself to me and snaking both her arms over my shoulder, putting her hands on the back of my neck. "I want a real date."

I hummed, looking down at her. "So... basically you got jealous that your underclassman got a date and you didn't?"

She pouted and slapped my chest, but didn't let me go. "Nooo..." Her voice wasn't as convincing though. I almost laughed at the reaction. The water was already boiling.

Well, if she wants a date tomorrow, I'll give her a good time. It actually has been a while since I had one...

Actually... When was the last time I had a real date?

* * *

I swear I'll give up trying to understand women one of these days. I mean, we live in the same house, so why in the name of the Root should I go wait for her somewhere else? Worst of all, she had to pick the same damn spot that Asia had asked for Ise to wait for her, so imagine my surprise that while I was sitting on the bench at the side of the road, near the shopping arcade, Ise appears beside me, all dressed up and sits on the bench beside the one I was sitting.

Whoever helped him dress up, either has no idea what fashion is, or has an idea and thought that it was a good idea for a teenager to walk around the city in early summer wearing a tuxedo complete with a bowtie and a flower on the breast pocket. I don't know what would be worst. I almost knocked my head against the light pole beside me when I saw him. Worse for him, he looked at me and seemed like a deer in the headlights.

"S-Sempai, what are you doing here?" He asked, apparently not sure if he should be getting near me or not.

"Same as you apparently..." Then I frowned. "Or not. I mean, are you going to a gala or something?"

He looked at his clothes then beamed at me. "Like it? I had to buy this because Buchou said that since it was Asia's first date I had to make sure that it was memorable for her."

"Oh, it'll be memorable alright." The urge to knock my head on the pole was getting stronger. "Now... Tell me, are you seeing anyone else wearing a freaking tux around?" I asked him.

He did just that, looking around. "Well, they aren't on dates so..."

"You know what? Forget it." I gave up on the spot. It wasn't worthy. Except his date was with Asia. Damn it. "Come with me." I said looking at the clock on the corner. I still had half an hour before Akeno would show up. "What time did you two decided to meet?"

"Humm... In half an hour." He said, and I decided to forego thinking about the obvious plot that Akeno had decided to devise for a double date.

"Then come." I said, pulling him by the scruff of his neck to the nearest store. Fifteen minutes later, my wallet was lighter, but at least the boy was wearing something that was more fashionable for his age, place and time of the year. I mean, seriously, who in their right mind let him go out wearing that? He didn't do that with his date with Raynare... Though, given that she tried to kill him. Correction, killed him, I think I should cut him some slack about this.

When we finished going back to the spot where we were supposed to wait for the girls, but before I sat down on the bench I felt when several different scents washed over our position. I turned to them, and groaned in annoyance. Apparently the girls on Rias Peerage, plus Shidou decided to stalk the date between Ise and Asia. Now I'm not sure anymore if Akeno wanted to come here for a double date or because she wanted to create an opening for the two.

Either way, I sat back down looking at the sky, before closing my eyes. "Hey, Sempai." I hummed at him prompting him to continue. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." I said to the boy. His tux had been shipped to his home via express delivery.

"No, I don't mean the clothes." Then he stuttered. "I mean, the clothes too, but not just that. I mean, the way you handled the whole thing with Ddraig. After that day I had a long talk with him and we came to an understanding." He said, sitting beside me. "Also he told me-" He cut himself off.

I raised an eyebrow without opening my eyes. "Told you...?"

"Nothing. He doesn't want me to tell you this." He said, and I craned my neck to look at the boy.

"What is he talking about?"

"No. Nothing. Just..." He began to stammer. "About the training." He said in a louder voice. "He said that your training is producing great results." He had obviously just thought about that on the spot, and it wasn't what he was going to say before.

Whatever. "If you don't want to talk, just say so. I'll not force it out of you." Then I paused. "Well, maybe I will if something happens, but in optimal circumstances I'll not." I smirked at him.

Whatever he was going to answer fell in deaf ears as I got up as soon as I felt the scent of both girls coming close. His head whipped from his position to me looking bewildered for a second, before copying me and looking at the same direction I was looking. They would appear on the corner in a few moments, in the exact contrary direction the stalkers were hiding, and I use the term hiding in the most loose definition possible. I mean, they were all behind a single telephone pole, for crying out loud. Only Ise hadn't realized they were there yet, apparently. Even the passerbyes where giving them strange looks.

But all of those thoughts stopped being important the moment the two of them appeared around the corner. If it wasn't for the situation I would gape at them openly. Asia was wearing a one piece white dress with a white hat over her head and high heeled sandals, and looked so cute that it would give anyone pause. She was also carrying a picnic basket with both her hands in front of her.

Akeno on the other hand was wearing a small black skirt with stockings, over her knees, like Rin used to wear during high school, with heeled sandals tied at her ankles, coupled with a dark red button up blouse with one too many buttons on top undone, putting even more emphasis on her cleavage. Her hair for once wasn't tied in the single ponytail she usually sported, and had a small black purse over her shoulder too. In one word she was gorgeous.

I would've gaped at them if it wasn't for the situation. They were both being accosted by two guys each, obviously trying to pick them up. I think one of the guys was even older than my apparent age here, about twenty one, twenty two. I don't care. "Ise." I said in a growl. "Follow my lead, and don't make a scene."

"I can't make any promises, Sempai." He answered with a growl of his own. I felt almost proud for the boy.

I took off in a light jog in the direction of the girls. "Hey. Sorry for the wait. Did you guys wait long?" I asked Akeno with a smile on my face.

"Hey, man. Get off with that act. It's obvious that we saw them first." One of the guys interposed himself in front of me, but I kept looking in the direction Akeno was with a smile on my face. "Get lost." He put a hand on my shoulder to try and push me away.

Operative word, try. From his perspective it was probably like trying to push a wall. I moved my eyes from Akeno to his hand on my shoulder, then to his face, with a smile still on my face. "Oh, I'm sorry. Do I know you?" I asked the guy.

"G-Get lost, loser." The guy stuttered, but tried to push me again. The next thing happened so fast that the guy must have thought that the world didn't make sense anymore. I grabbed his hand through the fingers, twisted his arm back, kicked behind his knees and put him on a choke hold, whitout letting go of his hand.

"Sorry, Akeno. Do you mind if I deal with these guys before we go?" I asked the girl with a refreshing smile.

"Oh, no. Go ahead. We can wait." She said with a mischievuous smirk on her face, while putting both her hands behind her back. The smile sent shivers down my spine. I think I'm actually saving these bozos from the brunette, not the other way around.

One of the guys that was accosting Asia didn't like that I was holding his friend and was about to throw a punch at me, but Ise caught his arm before his punch moved even half the way to my temple. "Sorry, Asia-chan. It seems someone needs a little discipline here." He said I could almost hear the bones cracking so hard he was pressing the guy's arm.

"Awawawawawa..." Asia for her part didn't know what to make of the situation, apparently.

"Well, let's get this over with." I said to the guy who was still beside Akeno, gaping at both me and Ise. "Want to throw down here or can we let the bygones be bygones?" I asked him with a smile that sure as hell wasn't anywhere near jovial anymore. "I mean, if you take too much time to decide, instead of carrying only one of your friends to the hospital, you'll have to carry two, three or maybe all of you." I shrugged. "Your choice."

The guy looked between me and Ise and lifted his hands in a surrender pose. "Sure man, whatever. Take your bitches with-" He didn't finish his sentence, since Akeno grabbed him by the wrist.

"Ara, ara." She smiled innocently. "What a bad mouth you have." The next second the guy was with his back on the ground, his wrist bent in a unnatural way. "The ground here is so slippery, you have to be careful, mister." I doubt the guy was hearing anything, since his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

The last guy took one look a his friends, put both hands up in a surrender position and bolted from there. Directly for the position the stalkers were. A few moments later I heard a scream coming from that direction and winced. They may have come to peep on Ise's date, but that doesn't mean that they don't have protective streak a mile wide when it comes to Asia and Akeno. They are Gremorys, alright.

"Onii-chan... Aren't you going to release him?" Asia asked me, and I turned my head in her direction.

"Huh? Why?" I asked her in turn.

"Because he's turning blue in the face." She answered pointing to the face of the guy I was still trapped in the choke hold.

The sense of deja-vu wasn't just mine apparently. "Hey, I remember that. Last time it was me." Ise said, still holding the other by the arm, but by now the guy was already kneeling on the ground and whimpering.

"Oh, yeah. It was when we met Asia, right?" I nodded to myself.

Another moment, and Asia again. "Onii-chan?"

"Hmm?" I looked back at her. "Oh, right." I released the guy from the hold and he fell limp over his friend. I frowned. "Should we call the cops for them... Or maybe an ambulance?"

"No need. I'll-" Asia began and both me and Akeno held a hand for her to stop. Using her Sacred Gear in the middle of the street wasn't a good idea in the best of the scenarios.

"Ambulance it is." I said, pulling my phone and dialing up one-one-nine. Five minutes later the paramedics came and with a little judicious use of Devil magic, courtesy of Akeno, we got out of there.

"That was fun." The Shrine Maiden said with a refreshing smile on her face while Asia was frowning. At least I think it was a frown on her face. The girl can't form a decent frown if her life depended on it.

"No, it wasn't. They were hurt. We should-" Asia began, but I patted her head over her hat.

"Asia, let it go." I said to the girl. "We gave them an out. They didn't take. Simple as that. Don't let a bunch of idiots ruin your day."

"But, Onii-chan..." She tried again, but weakly this time and didn't finish.

I turned to Akeno and asked. "So, what are the plans for the day?"

"Hmm..." She put a finger on her cheek, craning her head cutely. "I was going to let you decide, but since those guys were talking about karaoke, now I'm the mood for some. What do you say?"

"Sure, let's go." We began to walk in the direction of the karaoke boxes that I remember seeing on the shopping arcade when I realized something. Both Asia and Ise were following us. I raised an eyebrow at them, looked at Akeno then sighed. "What about you guys, what are you going to do?"

"Huh?" Ise said dumbly, blinking repeatedly.

"Where are you guys going?" I asked again.

"Karao...ke... Oh!" Finally he realized what I was trying to say. "Asia-chan, what you want to do?"

"Awawawawa..." The girl blushed crimsom from being put on the spot. "I-I-I-... ICE CREAM!" She ended up shouting, making both me and Ise take a step back involuntarily and Akeno begin to giggle. That made her blush get so strong that I had become honestly afraid that she was going to have a stroke then and there.

"Erm... S-Sure..." Ise said uncertainly and the smile the girl gave him would melt the poles with the radiance.

Seriously, the little Nun is dangerous.

"Thank you." She said, jumping and grabbing his arm with both her arms, apparently forgetting that she was carrying a basket in her hands, knocking it on the boy's chest.

He winced at first, then his eyes went wide and his eyebrows met his hairline. "Just remember what I said, Asia." I told the former Nun looking at the pervert instead. "Anything happens, you just need to tell me okay?"

I was about to put a few more words in, to instill the fear of retribution on the bones of the pervert when Akeno too pulled me by the arm. "C'mon, Shirou. Let's leave the lovebirds alone." She said and pulled me, in the direction we were walking earlier.

I shot another look at Ise, both he and Asia were blushing now because of Akeno's remark, but I had to turn frontward quickly otherwise I think the Shrine Maiden would make me trip, so hard she was pulling me in the direction of the Karaoke box.

Turns out that Akeno liked Enka. Some of the musics she sang I had never even heard before. Another thing I rediscovered was that I'm completely tone deaf. I can't sing anything for the life of me, but at least the laughs from the girl in front of me were like bells on my ears. It lifted my spirit just seeing her happy face, and if I had to endure a little ridicule for it, then I say it was worthy.

Close to the end of our time on the box, she sang a song that I was sure that I had heard before, but couldn't actually remember from where.

She realized that I was frowning when she finished singing. "What's wrong, Shirou?"

"Humm? Oh, nothing. Just trying to remember where I heard this song." I said, putting a smile on my face. "You sing it so well, that I could almost remember."

"Humm..." She smiled wistfully. "It was a song my mother used to sing for me to sleep." She said, sitting beside me. "I like to hum it sometimes."

It was then that it clicked. "Oh yeah. That was the song you were humming when I woke up after meeting Tohsaka-sensei." I said, snapping my finger.

She looked at me, startled, then realization dawned on her as well. "You know, I think it was." She smiled at the memory as if it was so long ago, but it had been actually just a few weeks.

Our time on the box ended and we decided to move away from there, taking a stroll down the street, window shopping.

Walking around with Akeno was a totally different feeling than doing the same with Asia all those months ago, or even the outings I did with the girls of the dorm. She wasn't nearly as sheltered as them, after all, and had a mind of her own, without waiting for me to guide her anywhere. It was refreshing actually, not having to decide everything, but discuss between the two of us what to do next before going and doing things that made sense for both of us. Like right now.

"I know this one has samurais and swordfights, but also has romance." I said pointing to the poster.

"You just want to see because of the swords and then belittle them for using props to film or maybe say that swords don't work that way." She pouted. "This one is better suited to a date!" She said pointing to the poster beside the one I was pointing to. Apparently it was a romantic comedy.

"But this one has more action." I tried again. I knew I wouldn't win this discussion, so I was just doing to spite her a little.

"And this one is more romantic." She pointed out, almost pouting. I was getting near her breaking point, so I relented and we went to see the movie she wanted.

It was a story about a pair of kids that had bad case of puppy love when they were younger and promised each other to marry once they were adults, but were separated when the parents of the girl moved away and ended up meeting each other again only after both of them were already older. Both spent the entirety of their relationship without realizing that they had fulfilled their childhood promise and only after the man died of old age was that the woman realized when, during the wake, one of his other childhood friends called him by the nickname he had when he was a child.

All in all, the story itself was interesting. They could have ended with them being together and happy without realizing and then roll credits, but the ending seemed like it was shoehorned in, just to change from a happy to a bittersweet one. At least it made the girls, and a few of the guys too, shed tears at the end of the movie, so I think they achieved their intention of a powerful ending.

But when I looked at Akeno she had a complicated expression on her face. She was one of the few girls that hadn't cried at the end of the movie. "So, liked it?" I asked her.

"Hum...? Oh, not so much. That actress was much better on her last movie, and that singing montage at the mid point was weird. It seemed like they didn't know what type of movie they were doing and it kept hopping genres all over the place." She shook her head. "But it was interesting." She said, beaming me a smile, while worming herself under my arm.

We left the theater, only to almost trip on the stalkers. They were all with their backs to us, so I thought that maybe now it would be a good time to make ourselves scarce and go in the opposite direction, but apparently Akeno had other ideas. With a smirk on her face, she walked right behind the group of girls and looked over their shoulders in the direction they were watching. I too looked over there and saw that both Ise and Asia were sitting on the grass in the park, a picnic basket beside Asia while the two of them chatted animatedly.

I turned my attention back at the foursome that was watching the proceedings. It was a miracle that no one had called the police on them yet. I mean, Rias was the most normal of them all, and she was wearing a hat with sunglasses a little too big for her face. Koneko had a literal tiger mask on her face, Quarta looked like a typical yankii girl with a surgical mask over hers and, I have no idea why, but instead of Shidou, as I had felt earlier, Gasper was there with his customary paper bag over his head.

"Who they think they are tricking?" I asked myself, shaking my head.

"Themselves, maybe?" Akeno answered, her eyes twinkling.

"They are just chatting, Buchou. Shouldn't we go try and find the other two?" Quarta asked, without taking her eyes from the couple sitting on the grass.

"Find who?" Akeno asked over Rias, as if she was there the whole time.

"Akeno and Shirou." The blunette answered instantly. "Shirou looks experienced and Akeno is how she is. If something is going to happen is with those two."

"Don't worry, I trust Akeno." The redhead answered. "She'll not do anything."

"Oh, really?" Akeno asked, pressing herself more on my arm. "What do you think she'll not do?"

I stuffed a hand on my mouth to stiffle the laughs that were coming. "Like k-k-k-kiss..." I looked at Gasper who just answered.

"Like this?" Akeno asked, and before I could process what was happening, I felt two hands redirect my face and her soft lips pressing against mine. My eyes went wide at her. It was only a small peck, but it was enough for her to have a flush on her face. Who am I kidding, I think I too am blushing at the moment, judging by how hot my face feels.

"Yes, yes. Like that." Rias answered, before turning back to the couple down at the park.

I kept looking at the foursome with disbelief. By the Root, hadn't they realized what just happened? I looked back down at the brunette and the mischief in her eyes was still clear as day when she began to pull me away from the group. It was only when we turned the corner that I heard the group shout together something that sounded suspiciously like "Eeeeeeeeeeeehhhh?!"

A second later we were both sitting on a outdoor cafe, with our backs hidden from the street by a couple of fake palm trees, seconds before the four of them passed running through there, while saying things like. "I swear I saw them!" "No way, it was your imagination, Buchou." "Are we going to leave the other two there?"

I took one look at the Shrine Maiden and couldn't stop myself from laughing anymore. We continued laughing until a waiter came to the table where we had sat, offering us the menu. I wasn't expecting that, but accepted it anyway. The girl took the menu as well, but couldn't stop laughing and hid her face on my shoulder to continue shaking her body with mirth.

I pointedly looked at the menu, trying to fake that I was concentrating on it, but I was trying hard to hold it in my own laughs, which didn't help when there's someone else laughing just on my shoulder. At least laughter is a good suppressant, so the interesting things her shaking shoulders where doing to her anatomy, specially on the opening of her blouse that I could see from my vantage point, wasn't making me feel anymore uncomfortable than it would normally.

"So..." She said after a few more bouts of laughter. "Was it good for you too?" She asked trying to maintain a straight face and failing miserably, sending both us in laughing fits again.

The conversation just didn't devolve further because the waiter came back to take our orders. I pointed at something at random on the menu, while Akeno did the same. It was an interesting experience, trying to identify what was the black blob of jello that was put on a cup in front of me before I took a bite of it. I had selected a blackberry sundae apparently, while Akeno choose a cheesecake.

During our time sitting on the café, one thought came to my mind. "Does Rias not realize that she could simply track you down through the Queen Piece?"

Akeno's eyes widened at me, before she began to giggle again. "I don't know. She should be able to."

I shook my head. "Talk about scatterbrain." I snorted, while the brunette who had already finished with her treat, leaned her head on my shoulder.

"Not normally, but when it comes to Issei-kun, she turns into a little girl." I could hear the mirth on her voice.

I chuckled again. "I can't believe the pervert doesn't realize that the girls are practically flinging themselves at him." Then I looked up, stroking my chin. "How can he be so dense?" The girl said something under her breath that I actually didn't catch completely, so I asked. "What?"

"Hmm? Oh, just thinking about how Asia will be glowing once she gets home tonight." I'm sure it wasn't that she had muttered because two of the words I'm sure she said was 'kettle' and 'pot', but I let it slide for now.

"Well, as long as she's happy..." I said, getting up. "So, princess, where to next?"

This whole date idea she sprung on me had made me leery at first, but I'm actually having a lot of fun. "Well, there are two places I wanted to go. The first one is a little far, if you don't mind?"

"As you command." I said bowing my head reverently, before she playfully smacked my head. "So where to?"

"My old Temple." She said and I felt my mood dip a little, but her smile told me it wasn't anything bad, so we began to walk.

It was on the completely opposite side of town from where we were, so we had to take a cab to the place, at her insistence, since I was more than happy to just walk there. Apparently she wanted to go somewhere else afterwards so I had to capitulate to her once again. Climbing the steps of the place I began to frown at the state of disrepair it was. I mean, it was already bad when I kidnapped Akeno from here, but now not even the torii were being maintained and there was overgrowth everywhere.

Once we finished climbing the steps, we saw that the place had actually fallen down, or at least the roof had caved in and fallen inside the building. It was being literally being held upright only because the walls were against each other. "This..." Akeno began after we entered the grounds. "This happened two weeks after you took me away from here." She said, taking a few steps to the structure, putting a hand on the wall. "It was in the middle of the night, during one of the storms that happened then." She turned to me, her eyes lining with tears. "You see, a few years ago, when Buchou said that we would come to the human realm to study during high school, I had asked her if there was a place like this for me to stay. She found it easily enough, but the priests that lived here then didn't like the idea of having a Devil living with them. For them, Devils rank only a little above Youkai in the worst enemy of humanity category." She gave me a gloomy smile, before passing a hand over one of the poles that held the small raised step where the offering box was still standing. "There's no Kami enshrined here anymore, not even a symbol."

She put two coins in the offering box and prayed for it a little.

"But even without a Kami, people would still come to pray like this. The kanushii all abandoned the Shrine shortly after I began to live here. The only one who accepted me was an old man who died three months later. I took care of him until he went to the Yomi-no-Kuni, but before that he told me that this place was once the most powerful leyline on the whole region, but the development of the city ended up diverting the mystical pathways to other places." She turned back to me, her eyes moist. "He told me that this place would be mine, because he couldn't think of anyone who would care so much about a place that was already falling down then, than someone who had lived a harsh life as I did."

She smiled again, humorlessly, hugging herself, and I took the three steps that I was away from her to pull her into a hug.

"Turns out he was one of the men that had been sent to kill me by the Himejima family back then." She said, surprising me. "He was the only one who didn't saw a monster when he first saw me. Just a scared little girl. He was the one who tipped the Gremory Family about me and my whereabouts, and that was how Okita-dono managed to find me."

"Akeno..."

"This place... When you said you would tear it down, plank by plank... at the time I felt... conflicted." She said, leaning her side of her head on my chest. "I wanted to live in a Shrine because most of the memories I have of my mother was when she was wearing her red hakama and white haori." She chuckled. "I'm told that I look a lot like her did back then." I knew that, of course. "So, on one side, I felt like destroying this place would get rid of my memories of my mother, even though I know that this wasn't her Temple and has actually nothing to do with her, but on the other hand it would feel like a revenge of sorts against the Himejima family, even if it they had nothing here aside from the old man."

I hummed, resting my chin on her head. "Is that why you never asked me why I never made good on my promise?"

She nodded. "Even now, with you here, I still don't know what would be better. Destroy, let it rot by itself or rebuild it." She paused, inhaling deeply to steady her breathing. "But to be completely honest with myself, an even greater part of me is happy to not live here anymore. Rias-sama was always asking me to go live with her too, though she never went out of her way to kidnap my things." She added with a somewhat watery amusement on her voice.

I chuckled despite myself.

We stayed silent, looking over the rundown Shrine for some time until she broke the silence. "Let's go." She said, pulling away from me, but still pulling me by the arm. "There's one last place where I want to go today."

"Sure." I answered, falling into step beside her, only for her to hug my arm with both hers, putting my elbow in the valley between her breasts. "Where to this time?" I asked, trying really hard not to think about the position she put herself in.

"Hummm... This time is a surprise, but you'll recognize it, I think." She said. The sun was already setting by the time we left the Temple, but apparently the next spot was close enough to go on foot, so I just let her guide us in silence until I realized that the streets seemed familiar. It was the neighbourhood that I spent most of my first few weeks on this world. I could already imagine where she was taking us, but let her guide us anyway. When we entered the small park she let go of me and took three steps before turning and looking back at me. "Remember this place?"

"We first met here." I answered instantly. "I heard a cry for help and just... reacted." I said sheepshly. "Honestly, at the time I was so out of it that most everything I did was on instinct." I looked at the tree tops feeling the wind that was beginning to pick up. Those first few weeks were different to say the least. I was used to be in enemy territory, but back then I was always primed for combat at a moments notice. Here it wasn't anything like that. I was simply lost, trying my best to not interfere with this universe.

"Yes. Actually, that cry for help was to signal the others that I had ensnared our target." She chuckled. "But then this redhead bum appears out of nowhere and my target simply disappeared from me." She smiled widely at me.

"Well..."

"To be honest, when Rias wanted to talk to you later, I was annoyed. It was supposed to be my capture that day." She shook her head. "I remember thinking that 'I lost a Stray to a Magician bum.'" She put a hand on her mouth again, giggling. "Then, when you came with me... to be honest, you were a puzzle. Something I couldn't understand. Someone who had so much mana coursing through his body should know about the supernatural, should recognize me as a Devil on the spot... But you didn't... Not me, or Buchou, or anyone else."

"Well... To be honest, I already explained why was that, right?" I answered.

"Yeah. It gave me quite a scare when you whipped that spear out of nowhere." She shook her head, chuckling again. "But even then... It took us literally spelling out to you for you to understand that we were all Devils."

Again I lowered my head, grimacing. "Well..."

"No need to explain yourself. I understand." She said taking the steps back in my direction. "You're hardheaded... no, swordheaded." She chuckled once more, reaching with her hands around my neck. "So, since you can't take a hint, I'll be the more clear I can possibly be. When you took me to live with you, you said you would be my father, my brother, uncle, guardian, protector..." She then pulled my face down and kissed me. This time wasn't the little peck she did during the afternoon, it was deeper and more intense, but more gentle and caring as well. I hadn't even realized that at some point I had began to answer her kiss. After a few more incredible moments, she broke off, smiling up at me. "My lover." She breathed the last out.

"A-" I began, but had to gulp dryly to be able to finish the word. "Akeno...?"

"You said that Issei-kun didn't realize that there were several girls after him, but you too, you know?" She smiled up at me, teasingly. "I thought that maybe you were only humoring me, since you are older than me, or maybe because of the memories you saw, but even then... you never told me that I was being clingy, or maybe an annoyance. I even thought that maybe you saw me as a daughter, or a little sister like Asia, but then..." She chuckled again. "I remembered your Soulscape, Shirou."

"My-My Soulscape?!" I asked surprised. "What are you talking about?"

She hummed, closing her eyes while smiling. "Do you remember when you connected my Circuits? You said that it was something dangerous for you as well, because when you stare at the abyss it stares back at you, right?" She opened her eyes again, reaching a hand to caress my cheek.

I nodded, answering mechanically. "It's one of the problems with Soul Diving the way I do it. There are other ways to connect the Circuits, but I never managed any of them."

"Yeah." She closed her eyes again, before tilting her head aside. "What I don't think you realized was the second part of that sentence. What do you think that meant?"

I cocked my head as well, trying to make the connection. "It generally means that I'll receive some backlash from seeing things I shouldn't..."

"Shirou... In that situation... You were the one staring at the abyss... and I was the abyss staring back." She said, and paused before repeating. "I was the abyss." It took me a few moment to understand what she meant.

"Are you saying that-"

"That I saw your Soulscape then, as well." She said what I was dreading. "It... It was a wasteland littered with swords... Things that it took me until yesterday to make the connection... on top of a hill in the middle of those badlands... There were two swords staken in the ground forming an 'X' with a sheath vertically in between the two... One of those swords was Caliburn, and the Sheath was Avalon, right? Then the other sword was probably Excalibur..." She looked up to my eyes. "The Excalibur from your world." She paused almost fearing to continue talking. "Just looking at the three I realized... that place was your innermost secret..."

"Akeno-" I tried to move, but the girl gripped my shoulders tighter.

"It made me realize that even with all the weapons around... Weapons that shouldn't exist... The whole field felt insecure... lonely... broken... Like me. I felt that kinship with you then. And I finally saw it for what it really was... It was your life... The way you lived..." She paused a moment. "It was beautiful... And after living with you all these months I finally understood it. Your life wasn't beautiful. It _is_ beautiful, Shirou..." She pulled a deep breath. "Why do you think I told you to call me 'Akeno' the moment you woke up again? Why do you think I didn't protest too much to come live with you?" One of her hands came to the side of my face, edging me to look at her. "Because I fell in love with you then and there. I don't care if you are ten years older than me. In ten years what's the difference that'll make?"

"I-I-I-" I tried to process what she was saying, but my brain was still in a loop. Only one thing still was at the forefront because she just mentioned. "I'm old, Akeno..." It came out weakly.

"Oh? Really? My father has you beaten there you know?" She said with a smile so bright on her face that made my heart skip. Seriously. Was Akeno always this cute? No, cute is not the right word... Beautiful? Radiant? "He was thousands of years old when he and my mother got together." Her smile turned tender. "I can't deny what I feel, Shirou. I love you. I know that you'll probably disappear one day, but if I think about it, I'll live for centuries, and even if you never go back to your home world, you'll not have that long to live compared to me. You already said that you don't want to be turned into a Devil, or an Angel, so if I'm setting myself to be heartbroken either way, I don't need to hold myself back. I don't want to. Not anymore." She looked down before continuing. "It hurt... when you said that I was with Issei-kun... That I had slept with him... It hurt more than I imagined it should or would..." I opened my mouth to retort but she didn't let me. "It was then that I realized that if I don't make myself clear to you, you'll never understand. I love you, Shirou. Nothing will change that."

"I-I-I-" What now? What do I do? I don't actually have any attachments elsewhere to hold me back, but just because of that it wouldn't be fair to her. I could see in her eyes that she was really earnest with this. I really don't know what to think. My mind is a jumble. I took a deep breath and blinked slowly. "I'm broken, Akeno..."

"Oh, and I'm not?" She said, her smile didn't diminish in the slightest. "Shirou... You're talking with someone who lived a good part of her early life as a fugitive, eating worms and foraging food from trash cans..." She leaned her head down, putting her forehead on my shoulder. "When I'm with you, I feel complete... safe... loved... warm... Even when I'm sad... Or remembering something that isn't pleasant... Just getting near you is enough to blow all of those thoughts away... Just feeling your heartbeat is enough for me to not want to let go... Shirou... I'll repeat as many times as you want, and as many times as I need. I love you. Nothing will change that. Ever."

I gulped dryly again. "A-Akeno..." I reached up and took her hands from behind my neck, prying them from the position, and pulling them down.

The hurt beginning to form on her face was enough for me to realize that what I was about to do was more wrong than anything I ever did in my life. But...

"I... I'm... I..." I couldn't get the sentence out. She kept looking at me with the same eyes as before, but now with more hurt in them than before. C'mon, just say _'I'm sorry, I'll be out of this world in short order.'_

"You..."

 _'You should find someone who'll treasure you.'_

"My..."

 _'My life isn't cut to have this type of good thing happen. Not anymore.'_

"We..."

 _'We'll never work out, I'm too distorted.'_

"My..."

 _'My life is going to end in a hill of blades.'_

"I..."

 _'I don't want to drag you into that.'_

"Shirou... Pick a sentence and say it." She said, her tone resigned. "I'll be okay, don't worry..."

What came out of my mouth was completely different. "I don't know if I love you, Akeno." By the Root, what am I doing? The surprise on her face was probably the same that was on mine. What am I doing? What am I doing?! Why did I say that? "I don't know how, but..." What...? "I do care a lot about you..." What is the best solution in this situation. It isn't the same as with Sakura... With the lilac haired girl I always felt kinship, but never anything deeper... But I can't deny that I feel differently in relation to this violet eyed girl in front of me. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Akeno... I have no idea what it is I feel about you... I... never felt something so deep... I really don't know what it is..." I opened my eyes and looked back down at her. "I just know that it isn't the same I felt before... with Rin..." Then my eyes widened. "What is this... I... I don't actually understand myself anymore..."

"Shirou..." She wrestled her hands away from me, eyes looking up, surprised, brimming with tears, then launched herself at me, capturing my lips one more time.

Then all at the same time a vision swimmed through my minds eye. Several faces appeared. Random people that I know or knew. Kiritsugu. An older Illya. Mitsudzuri. Rin. Archer. Sakura from this world. Shinji. A black haired man. Bazzet Fraga. A silver haired Nun. Kotomine Kirei. Another unknown older man.

"What the hell was that?" I asked myself, putting a hand on my temple, trying to stave off the headache that was coming at the same time she broke the kiss between us.

"Shirou..." I heard Akeno's startled voice, then my eyes widened. Between us was a golden orb of light, similar to the one Rin-san had shown me. "Shirou..." The brunette's voice became watery as she repeated. "I'm an Owner..."

* * *

 **A/N:** The blade Shirou used here, _Ignis Heart_ , comes from another Fic, or to be more precise, from the Omake of another Fic, by _SaintInfernalNeos_ called "One Punch-Gamer." (Id: 12629129) It's a good read that I recommend it. All credit about the sword goes to him.


	11. An Unwilling Discovery

**A/N** : Don't own anything

* * *

 **Chapter 11**

 **An Unwilling Discovery**

* * *

It was actually weird, walking home with Akeno draped on my arm. The feeling was seemed the same as it always at first, but there was something different. Like I was finally seeing the girl for the first time after all these months. It was different, sensing her scent that always made me feel peaceful, right now was making my heart beat faster, more than normal.

Has she always been this beautiful? I mean, I knew Akeno was beautiful since... well, since she took me out of prison, really. Why didn't I realize before? Never I felt like this... My feelings... are buried deep down. Even Rin, on the best of her days, could only make me feel a glimpse of them, but this girl managed to root them out so easily, things that were hidden so deep inside me...

But all that seemed too small in the face of the fact of what just happened. According to Michael, only someone who hasn't been Reincarnated could be an Owner, so I assumed that whoever the last Owner was, it couldn't be a Devil. He said that the Part should have protected her from becoming a Devil, but apparently he was wrong. I just became Akeno's Partner, and judging by the timing, all those faces I saw were the other Owners and Partners.

Which boggles my mind to no end. Who was the Owner and who was the Partner? Worse, now I had an almost confirmation that several people that were already dead on my world were alive on this one. Is this some kind of sick joke? Or Karma? I mean, what are the odds of people I knew in the other world be the same ones that were involved in this... thing. Kirei, Shinji... Kiritsugu... Illya! Illya was older in the image I saw, but it was her. Her silver hair and red eyes were the same. She was alive. Kiritsugu too.

It should be simple for us to reunite them all...

A feeling of dread took over my senses when I thought of another thing. If Kiritsugu was alive, then I hope that he does not have the same ideals my father had, otherwise I could imagine him being hired by the one of the families to kill the other Owners, since going by what Rin-san had told me about the murders... and if he had received the vision too, then he knew who to look for as well. "What are we going to do..."

"Hmm...?" Apparently Akeno wasn't giving much thought about the implications of her being an Owner. She only nuzzled herself further on my side and continued to walk. I didn't have the heart to open the subject for her. It was rare for me to see her so happy as she was at the moment, so I wanted to keep my thoughts to myself. At least for now, so I only smiled down at her and shook my head.

At that moment I realized that we were receiving looks from several people around us, and it took me a moment to connect the dots. I was so out of it that I didn't realize that the way we walked through to go home passed right by several love hotels, making me almost groan in frustration. I mean, I was so caught up in the moment, that I didn't even realize where we were going. Though it seems I wasn't the only one, since Akeno too didn't. Or maybe she didn't care.

She had joked earlier that Asia would be glowing when she got home, but turns out that the Shrine Maiden too was glowing, more than ever in my eyes. We walked right past that place, and if someone saw us right now, it would be fertile ground for rumors. I have no idea what they'll say in this case, but I already can imagine the headache they'll become.

We were about to reach the street that would take us home when something caught my attention. The scent of a powerful being nearby, smelling of paper, ink and clay. I frowned at that, and Akeno, who didn't know that, stopped when I did and saw that I was looking in another direction. "What's wrong, Shirou?" She asked, and I turned my head to her, but my eyes were still in the same direction.

"Something... Or someone, rather..." I said, my voice low. "Come." I urged her to follow me, but kept my stride the same, so if whoever the scent belonged to was following us, they wouldn't realize that they had been made, but that wasn't the case. Whoever it was didn't move during the walk. It took me a few minutes to locate the owner of the scent. It turned out to was a blonde boy, barely ten or eleven years old, sitting on a sidewalk, knees scrapped raw, but he didn't seem to mind. I walked near, crouching in front of him. His mystical signature mingled with his physical smell. And he reeked of sweat, dirt and dry urine. "Hey, little guy. What's wrong?"

The boy didn't even acknowledged my presence. He looked more like he was high on some kind of drug than anything else. His eyes were unfocused, and, as is custom in this country, everyone simply passed by him without giving him the time of the day. It really bristled me. Even here, in another world, Japan is not a kind country to homeless people.

"Are you alright?" I tried again, but was met with the same amount of success. I sighed, getting up and looking around. There were no houses around here, so he could possibly be a runaway that ended up lost, or maybe he could be sick. I frowned, looking down the street. The nearest residential house would be more than three miles from here, actually near where my house was.

I looked at Akeno who crouched in front of the boy too, no doubt feeling the same power that I did now that she was close. "Shirou... He has a Sacred Gear..."

My eyes widened. A little kid like that with a Sacred Gear in a Devil territory. Great. Just... great. I crouched down again and looked at him, offering my hand. "Here." That got me the first reaction out of him. He looked at my hand then at my face, but his eyes were still unfocused. Then he looked one more time to my hand and began to move his own hand, painfully slowly to put on top of mine. Once he did, I pulled him up, and he didn't protest, just held on my hand like a kid holds the hand of a parent. "Let's get you cleaned up."

"Shirou... Are you sure that's a good idea?" Akeno said turning up to me. The kid looked at her face, then down at her hand and began to lift his other arm, slowly, until it was level with the girls hand, expectantly. She looked at me one more time, before sighing and catching the boy's hand on hers and smiling.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"..." I could see his lips barely moving, but no words actually came out of him.

"Do you live around here?" Again his lips moved, but nothing came out, and I frowned.

"Qual è il tuo nome?" Akeno asked in a different language, making the boy's eyes change, focusing better. "Nome?"

"Mi chiamo Leonardo." The boy said in a barely audible voice. "Tu sei mio amico?" I couldn't recognize the language he was speaking, but it wasn't completely strange. I think I heard it before.

"Sì. Il mio nome è Akeno." Akeno said then pointed to me. "E questo è lo Shirou."

"Akeno." He repeated looking at her then turned to me. "Shirou."

"Sei italiano?" The girl asked again.

"Sì."

"Come sei venuto in Giappone?" They continued to talk in low tones like that. I cocked my head to the side, waiting for the Shrine Maiden to finish interrogating the boy. It was actually quite fast since the answer for one of her question made Akeno's whole stance change, her face harden and the smile that was on her lips become more strained.

"What did he say?" I asked her, noticing her change in demeanor.

"His name is Leonardo. He's from Italy and he got lost a few days ago from his friends." She then got up from her crouch and looked at me in the eye, over the kids head. "He's part of the Hero Faction, Shirou."

"What?" My head whipped to the boy. "What? How?"

The boy whimpered a little when my hand pressed a little harder on his and I forced myself to calm myself down, kneeling in front of him to be at eye level, and patted his head. "Akeno, could you translate what I'll say?"

"Sure."

"What happened when you came here?" I asked the boy, to which Akeno promptly translated and he answered.

"Apparently he was supposed to help the others in subduing a hero that was against them but they never came back for him." She translated back to me. I forced myself not to wince. Why had CaoCao left the boy here? Thinking about it, it was best that he didn't take him to the battlefield though. I have no idea what would I have done if I had to attack this kid. Better to not think too much about it.

"Has he been on the street since then?" I asked more to myself than to him. It has been almost two weeks since the Peace Conference. I shook my head. No, that's not the problem. The problem is that this kid is part of the Hero Faction, so why hasn't CaoCao come back for him? The more I thought about it, the more it made me seethe with anger. Was everyone on the Hero Faction just disposable pawns for that one? "Ask him if he wants to come with us to take a shower, change clothes and maybe eat something."

"Shirou, are you sure..." She paused then she smiled, sighing fondly and shaking her head. "Yeah, that was one of the reasons..." She relayed the question and got the answer, getting up, and pulling him along. "Just a fair warning... This could be a trap." I nodded at her, but didn't voice my other concerns. This kid had a Sacred Gear that I managed to catch from quite a distance, so it had to be powerful. Until we reached my house, he would be exposed.

Half an hour later I was inside the bath with the boy, Leonardo, trying to clean the kid. He seemed so weak, his arms were bony and I think he had a broken rib that healed wrong at some point because his breathing was shallow and stuttered. Asia had jumped in place when she saw the kid and had fawned over him, specially his scrapped knees, and had used Twilight Healing on him almost immediately. Then she said a few words with him and I dragged him with me inside the bathroom, but it had been a battle just to make ourselves understand each other.

After washing him, I thought about drawing a hot bath for him, but decided against it for now. For one, I have no idea if they have that custom in Italy and for another, there's more pressing matters to attend to. As soon as I entered the bathroom, I had asked Akeno to find something in my closet that he could change into and Asia to prepare something for him to eat. Since she too had come from Italy, or more specifically, the Vatican, I was sure that she could come up with something suitable for the kid to eat that wasn't too different from what he ate normally.

I have no idea where she found that, but Akeno appeared on the doorway at the same time I was about to call for her with a bundle of clothes, or more specifically, a hakama and a haori on his size. This wasn't the first time she found clothes fit for others in a flash, but that must have been a new record. Getting him to wear them was another problem entirely though. By the giggles coming from the brunette he must have said something weird.

One thing at least I could be sure, the kid was _hungry_. I mean, he devoured the sandwiches Asia made, even making the little Nun go back into the kitchen to prepare more. Her reasoning was that if he had been without eat for so long, it was better for him to eat something light first, before eating a normal meal. True that, but I guess she didn't realize the amount of food that the boy could inhale, apparently.

"Shirou, what if this is a trap?" Akeno again asked that.

"Then I'll bite it, hook, line and sinker." I shook my head, grimacing. "I mean, look at the kid. We're probably the first people to even have talked with him in these two weeks. 'If you don't acknowledge a stain it can't taint you.' The majority of japanese people live by this tenet. Not all of them, obviously, but he didn't have the luck to run into a good samaritan the whole time he was here, judging by the way he is."

She grimaced at first, but smiled in the end. "What are we going to do with him?"

"Good question." I frowned. "Does he have family? Someone to pick him up, that isn't a part of the Khaos Brigade?"

She looked at him then back at me. The kid was really famished, but the way he was stuffing his face with the sandwiches and juice was actually kind of endearing. "I don't think that its a good idea to ask him right now." She said with a smile on her face.

"Yeah. You're right." I sighed, getting up from my chair, patting the kid on the head as I passed him. I looked at the clock on the wall, then went to the bathroom, to look at his worn clothes. I had half a mind to burn the things, but decided to just put them in a bag for now, after looking over the numbers for his sizes. Then I got out back into the living room and called inside. "I'll be right back. If something happens, call me."

I didn't wait for the answer and left. It was already night, but if I hurried, I could get at least to the mall before it closed for the day.

When I came back to the house with three changes of clothes for the kid, I found him sleeping on the couch while using Asia's legs as a pillow. "Welcome back, Onii-chan."

"I'm back." I answered. "Has he said anything?"

She shook her head. "No. Nothing important at least." She was patting the kid. They looked like a pair of siblings. I went to my room and left the bags there, coming back to the kitchen to eat something. Akeno left some food on the table for me with a note. Apparently Rias had called her during the time I was out. After eating and coming back to the living room, I sighed when I saw the scene.

Asia had fallen asleep too. I chuckled and went to my room, preparing my futon and got another from the closet, preparing for him. The Nun almost woke up when I carted the kid from her lap to the room, but didn't. I sighed, went into her room and prepared her bed too. One of the few things that she had bought on her own was a bed. She actually didn't like to sleep on a futon. I carried her too to her bed, tucking her in. She must be having a good dream, because she sighed, smiling slightly.

I went back to the kitchen and prepared a cup of tea for myself, before sitting down on the couch again, finally stopping to think. What am I going to do with this kid? I offered him a meal and a shower mostly because I couldn't simply let him on the street, but what now? He's already a part of the Khaos Brigade, the Hero Faction. Thankfully he didn't have any of the scent of Ophis' snakes on him, so that was a plus. Had CaoCao really abandoned him, or had he lost him? Or was he a trap as Akeno suggested? What was the truth here?

I couldn't communicate with the kid, but going by the fact that he was part of the Hero Faction, he should be the reincarnated soul of a Hero. But who? I don't actually remember of any great hero by his name... but that doesn't mean anything. Heracles had another name, so its safe to assume that Jeanne, Georg, CaoCao and Sigurd all had different names before assuming the names of their hero counterparts. Maybe Leonardo was his own name and not the name of his hero self.

But even then... What was CaoCao thinking? Even if the kid had a powerful Sacred Gear, a battlefield isn't a place to take one. He had made the decent thing and not brought him to the Peace Conference proper, but why bring him here at all? Was this really a trap? Or maybe they didn't have anyone else to leave the kid with? Had CaoCao set him up to be found by me so the kid could discover things about me? Kids being used as spies is not a new tactic, but to go to the extent that this one had gone? He didn't even speak the language, so how would he be able to understand anything I said?

Or did he? Maybe he had been faking it? Was it possible for a kid so young to be this cunning? I dismissed that thought, though. He was physically weaker than he should, and all that hunger couldn't be faked. But if he had been drugged it was possible for him to be a plant. If CaoCao took the time to actually investigate me, he would know that I wouldn't leave a kid like him alone if I ever came across him...

There has to be something else at work here. It couldn't be so simple. I sighed leaning back on the couch, closing my eyes, but before I could rationalize anything else, I felt Akeno's teleportation on her own room. Right, Akeno... With everything that happened with the kid, I had put the whole thing with the brunette out of my mind, but now...

A few moments later, I felt her weight being added to the couch beside me, and her head on my shoulder. I cracked an eye open to look at her, but all I saw was the top of her head. "Stray hunt?" I asked.

"No." She chuckled. "She wanted to know about our date and couldn't wait until tomorrow."

"There's phones for that, you know?" Even I knew that this type of talk could be done over the phone. "Did she forget your number or something?"

"She didn't, but I turned my phone off since this morning." She said turning to look at me. "Forgot to turn it on again."

"Oh... but then she could have called either Asia or me, or any of the girls, couldn't she?"

"Yeah, well she did call Asia to ask for me and... Well... Let's just say that Rias isn't on her right mind at the moment." She laughed again, hiding her face on my shoulder. "I arrived there just as she was declaring for the whole house that she and Issei-kun would go on a date for the whole day tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is a school day, right?" I said raising an eyebrow.

"As I said, she isn't thinking things through at the moment." She shook her head once.

"Heh..." I let out, leaning my head back again and closing my eyes. "Did you talked to her about... the Owner thing?"

"No..." Akeno shook her head and was about to say something else, but hesitated. "She wanted to talk with you about a Trade."

I thought about it, then nodded. "Yeah. I had a feeling that she would want Solveiga." I sighed, thinking about it. The white haired girl made quite the impression on Rias in that little time. "I don't actually have a problem with it."

"Not that... exactly..." The Shrine Maiden said and I opened my eyes again, looking at her. She had a complicated look on her face.

"What then? Does she wants others too?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I knew that at least Carmela, Astrid and Margareth had been talking to Rias a lot lately too, but I didn't think that the redhead would want them.

"Not... Exactly..." She sighed. "I'll let her do the talking when she comes."

"Hummm... Sure, I guess." Then I leaned back once again. "Did you told her about our guest."

"Had to. She's still my King and finding a Sacred Gear that powerful on her territory, even if he's this young..." She paused, measuring her words. "I was about his age when I met her too. Granted, she didn't have her Evil Pieces then, but right now... I don't know."

"Aren't we thinking a little too fast?" I said, draping my arm over her shoulder. "I mean, the kid just appeared here a few hours ago. We have no idea what he has on his mind at the moment. He spent who knows how long with CaoCao and the Hero Faction, and he's at an impressionable age, so he could view the rest of the people on the Faction as his idols or something." Then I felt uncomfortable. "His heroes that I killed."

"Shirou..." The girl moved her arms around my shoulders. "Are you regretting what you did then?"

I paused, breathing deeply, giving me time to think about it. "No. I regret that I had to kill them in order to get out of there, but they were trying to kill me too to prevent me to help against the Dragon. And worse of all, I think that at least Sigurd and Jeanne would be good people to meet in other circumstances. Maybe they were a little battle crazy, but from what I could glimpse through their weapons... they weren't always like that."

"Battle crazy?" She asked.

"Fanatics." I answered. "They had a great deal of loyalty towards CaoCao. The guy is charismatic, I'll give him that, but from the way he treated the whole incident... the two times we talked... His way of thinking was too much like Gilgamesh. If something is of use, he'll use, if not, he'll destroy. Simple as that." Then I looked at the hallway where my room was. "If the kid has been living with him, then maybe he too has that loyalty, that devotion. If so, I don't know what he must be thinking about been abandoned... if he was at all."

"I see..." She sighed. "And what are you going to do now? I mean, we can't let him locked up inside the house while we go to school, right?"

"Yeah... I really can't do that." I sighed again, rubbing my hand over my face. "Do you think Azazel has any connections with the Khaos Brigade? Spies, maybe?"

"I..." She frowned. "I don't know... But its possible. The Khaos Brigade has a lot of different Factions inside it, so maybe the Grigori have someone there..." Then she sat up, looking at me. "You're not thinking in contacting CaoCao yourself, are you?"

"Not right now." I sighed, using the hand that was over her shoulder to caress her face. "I want to talk with Leonardo first. If he wants to go back, I'll arrange for him to go, but he doesn't want to, I'll have to think of something else."

Akeno giggled again. "Rias will not be happy that you aren't letting her try to persuade him."

"She'll have her chance... Once he grows up more." I chuckled, but my mirth was short. "Until then, he's under my protection."

"Hummm... 'Under your protection', huh?" The smirk on Akeno's face made me pause, since she moved to sit on my lap as she said it. "Am I under that 'protection' too?"

"Since you began to live here." I answered immediately, making her smile grow even wider and me feel distinctly like a rabbit looking at a lion.

The sentiment was proven right a moment later when she literally pounced on me, making the couch tilt dangerously back, almost knocking it over. Her kiss seemed more raw and hungry this time, different from the other two we had shared before. I'm not ashamed to admit that it was actually turning me on, making me respond with more voracity too.

That is, until I felt a spike of a scent inside the house and the alarms began to blare. I immediately cradled the girl on my lap, pulling her aside and got up, leaving her behind my back. I took one step towards the hallway, before turning to make sure she was with me still, then went to where the Bounded Field was telling me that the alarm had registered. My room.

I opened the door only to find it empty with a note on top of the futon. I walked to it and caught it. Leonardo's scent had disappeared along with the other scent I felt earlier. I knelt down to take the note. "'For finding him for us, we thank you. Next time we see each other, it'll be the last.' No identification." I muttered, turning the note around to make sure.

I walked to the wall, deactivating the alarm. Someone had managed to pinpoint Leonardo's position inside the house and teleported in and out fast enough to take the kid and leave the note. Whatever it was used, didn't trigger the Bounded Field that cancels the gathering of prana, so it was probably a Sacred Gear, since it didn't use prana to cast the teleportation. I have to research more in depth about this type of ability now. If whoever entered the house this way could do without triggering the Bounded Field, only the alarm, then it would be problematic.

"Onii-chan!" I heard Asia's voice, bringing me out of my short introspection.

"Someone grabbed Leonardo." I frowned yet again. "That can only mean one of two things. It was a trap in the first place and he wanted to know something about the house or the Bounded Field around it." Then I scowled harder. "Or the house is being watched from the outside and whoever it is watching saw when we brought Leonardo and told the Hero Faction."

"Wouldn't you know if you were being watched?" Akeno asked. "I mean, your range of detection is bigger than anything I ever seen."

I shook my head. "Not if they are using people that don't have mystical abilities in the first place, or they are so weak that I can't detect. Or if they are using technology instead of mystical abilities." I sighed. "That's... not good."

At least the alarm didn't resound on the dorm. If it had, I imagine that the girls wouldn't leave me alone.

"Shirou... what if it was both things at the same time?" The brunette asked, making me narrow my eyes considering her words. "What if the house was being watched but they couldn't get inside without pinpointing something? Then sent Leonardo to be found by you and used him as a beacon to get inside."

"The Trojan Horse." I sagged my shoulders. "Use him to enter the house and teleport inside to attack when we felt we were safe."

"Something like that, but once the alarm blared they panicked and took Leonardo away." She completed the thought.

I sighed sitting on the floor. It was possible, but to go to such an extent? Make a kid feel so hungry that he was practically glazing over. That is, if I can trust his words that he'd been left behind two weeks ago too. As I said to Akeno earlier, CaoCao is charismatic, so he could convince a impressionable kid to do this... Not to mention the note. It didn't add up. Whoever wrote the note should have done it before teleporting in, not after the alarms blared. It took me literally seconds to get from the living room to my room, so it shouldn't be possible.

"I don't want to think that a kid that age would do something like that..." Using kids... That's one of the worst kinds of people. Kids were supposed to be kids. They shouldn't have to hold swords or guns. They shouldn't be on the battlefield, not even as spies or plants. It just isn't right.

"Shirou!" "Onii-chan!" The startled cries of my housemates made me realize that I had punched the ground so hard that I put a dent on the tatami mat.

"Sorry." I said, letting my head fall down. Just when I said that the kid would be under my protection he disappears like that, and I don't know if he was taken willingly or not.

"Shirou..." I felt Akeno hugging me from behind at the same time Asia knelt beside me and pulled my head into her chest.

What can I do now? What is the right thing to do? Wait and see never seem to solve things for me.

What should I do?

* * *

Jump back, sidestep, dodge. The flurry of blows coming from three different directions are steadily making step back again, cornering me. Another swipe that's going to be wide of the mark but will box me in. Another one sidestepped.

"Trace on." I chanted and began to make another projection. Gradation Air, mostly known as Projection, is the most basic of the skills in Magecraft, designed to teach the young Magus to manipulate his own Od. Different of my own brand of Projection, Tracing, an object made with Gradation Air has so little resistance that might as well be, well, air, but in this situation it will serve me well. I projected a mirror right in front of my first assailant, then jumped over the swipe coming from my left, grabbing the arm and shoving it in the direction of the third, creating the opening I was waiting for.

I used the momentum of my push to send me to the side at the same time that another strike broke the projected mirror in bits of prana after finishing its job of hide my movements at the same time as making the attacker hesitate. When my feet touched the ground again, I twisted my body to the side to avoid a thrust that would nail me in the ribcage from a fourth assailant that hadn't attacked before.

Seriously, how can I escape this situation without hurting them? It's getting hard to do this the more time passes. My stamina isn't going to last the way things are going.

"Give up already!" The fourth said, readying the stance once more. "You have no way to win this time."

I chuckled, twisting my body once more to dodge another spear thrust, but this time I let the shaft below my armpit, so when it passed through I twisted my body once more, grabbing the pole and sending the owner flying on a heap over the second and third attackers that were just now disentangling themselves. The first came again, another slash downwards, slightly askew, aiming for my collarbone. I used the pole I just retrieved parry, sticking the tip on the ground with the same movement and using it as a trampoline to catapult me even more to the side and in direction of the objective.

I eyed the culprit for all of this with a vicious smile while I ran towards the doorway. My instincts screamed at me to stop, just in time for two fireballs to explode in my way, creating an inferno. "Now, will you give up already?" The culprit was behind me. I felt like it was only a few inches behind my back, but I knew that it was coming from a little ways away. "You'll lose no matter what you do, so why not just go with the path of least resistance? It'll hurt less."

I scowled at the inferno in front of me. Should I try pass through or find another way? Before I could decide, the decision was made for me. Another two swipes came from both sides, and another fireball coming from the top. I'm boxed in, with no way out. But then... I didn't need to move from my position anymore. I grabbed the shaft of the pole on my hand and threw it point first in the direction of the fire alarm in the wall, jumping into the inferno right in front of me just as the sprinkler system kicked in.

I heard several cute gasps and cries of indignation behind me before I finally touched the door. "Great work everyone." I said, turning back to the group.

"No fair, Shirou-sama!" Giselle cried out in frustration. "If there wasn't a fire alarm you wouldn't be able to reach the wall."

"Yes!" Margareth echoed. "You said you wouldn't use your magic, but you created that mirror."

The training exercise this time was simple. I would begin in a corner of the gym and had to reach the other side while my attackers had to force me to touch the opposite wall. The culprit for this exercise was Solveiga. She had just been traded to Rias, but wanted to have one last exercise while still linked to me, so we borrowed the gym for it or, to be more precise, a replica of the gym inside a pocket dimension similar to where the Rating Games are battled on. Shitori had apparently purchased it. Or created it. I'm not clear on the details about that.

The white haired girl was pouting on the floor. I had said that she could select other five members of the dorm for this exercise as her team. It was mainly for her to be able to micromanage the battlefield, and she did great in that regard. While Margareth, Giselle, Sylvi and herself were the front liners, she picked both Mihae and Alberta to be her supporters. The premise of the exercise was that they had to defend something for a set amount of time.

"I said that I wouldn't project any weapons. That was a mirror." I pointed out to the Rook. "And Giselle, always use everything there is on a battlefield. Do you know what can be done with gum, a paper clip and some wire?" I asked the Knight.

She actually stopped to consider. "Not really. I guess several things, but-"

"That was your error." I interrupted her. "If you need to think the use, then its useless. It's a split second decision. Use anything that can be used. If you stop to consider too much, you open yourself to be attacked. If can be used, use it. If it can't, keep it in mind for later, but don't dwell on it." I threw the spear that I had stolen from Margareth back to the Rook.

"But in the end we couldn't protect the objective." Solveiga said, still pouting. The white haired girl had become even more willful after her stay with Rias and now I don't even want to imagine what she'll be like in a few months of living under her new King.

"No, you didn't. But now you know what to expect from a situation like this in the future." I said, patting my soon to be former Pawn. "Everything is an experience." The girl blushed looking down, then I felt a towel fall over my head.

"Good work." I heard Akeno's voice. "Everyone is waiting for you guys."

"Right..." I said, sighing. Solveiga wouldn't be the only one to be traded, actually. In reality, only Margareth, Giselle and Astrid would still be linked to me. Every single one of the other girls would go to other Kings. Candida, Khalilah and Chevonne would be part of the Student Council and, consequently, Shitori's Peerage, while Alberta and Carmela would go to Ravel. The Phenex Heir finally managed to convince Mihae to be part of her Peerage too, no doubt after much talk with the other girls that returned to the Phenex Clan as well.

One thing I discovered was the reason why I had felt so discomfited the first time I did a trade with the girls. According to Rias we, the Kings, have a much deeper connection with our Pieces than the other way around. The sensation of losing a Piece is the same as cutting a part of ourselves. It was one of the main reasons why only High-Class Devils could have Peerages and even then only after they were emotionally mature. I wanted to chew Ajuka for not explaining this part for me when he asked me to do this, but in the end I had to give up. Either he thought that I wouldn't be so affected by this because I was human or maybe that I was emotionally mature enough to deal with it.

I am, or at least I think so, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. The contracts were already signed but I had asked for some time to prepare myself, since all three of them came to me in the same week to talk about the trades. Rias wanted Solveiga to go live with her too, but I left it up to the girl herself to decide. So far she hasn't said anything though. With Summer Vacation so close, I suspect that the former Holy Maiden will move after the trip they'll make to the Underworld for the Young Devil's Tournament.

About the dorm, I still haven't talked with Azazel about some way to block the use of spatial transportation inside the Bounded Field. Nothing happened after that night, but I upgraded the defenses of the house to activate immediately now, in case the alarm is tripped. It isn't an optimal solution, because someone with a high mystical signature like the Tohsakas can trip the alarm unknowingly, but at the moment is the best I can do to make sure the girls are safe.

My lessons with Kusaka and Shitori had been productive too. I've been learning a lot about the manipulation of energies they use, but unfortunately the majority of their spells need demonic energy to be cast and that leaves me with things that are slightly improved versions of the runes that I already know how to use. The cost-benefit in prana consumption for them isn't worthy though, but at least the improvement was palpable.

In the day after Leonardo was taken from my house, I began to poke around again with the Beacon Spell. I still had the clothes he was wearing that day, and my idea was to use it to locate him and confront CaoCao, but it was also slow going. According to Shitori, the equations were all correct, and she even tested with me using Saji as a guinea pig, but wherever the Hero Faction, or at least Leonardo, had holed themselves up had either a barrier or Bounded Field that cut off communication, or they are someplace that we couldn't pinpoint. Which made me even more worried that maybe my Beacon Spell wasn't reaching my home world in the first place.

Banishing these thoughts for later, I dried my face with the towel and handed it back to the Shrine Maiden, before walking to the gate and through it. The effect was immediate, as inside the field it was set to be an eternal night, but the moment we stepped outside we saw daylight, or to be more precise, it was early morning of the Sports Day at Kuoh Academy. Outside in a manner of speaking too, since we exited the field inside the Student Council Room. "Hey." I waved to the occupants of the room. Aside from the trio of Kings, Lord Gremory, Lord Phenex and Levia-tan were there as well. Shitori wanted her mother to come sign the contract but apparently Levia-tan strong armed their mother into letting her come visit her 'Sona-tan'. "Good morning." I bowed to the trio who was sitting on the couch, talking animatedly about something. Well, the Maou was talking and the two Lords had a face not unlike that of a grandparent indulging in the story of a particular overenthusiastic grandkid.

"Oh, Lord Emiya. Good morning." Lord Phenex nodded to me.

"Good morning." Lord Gremory nodded to me as well.

"Haiya, Shi-chan~!" Both the Lords greeted me politely while Levia-tan waved enthusiastically, as if I was on the other side of the courtyard, not ten feet from her. "Good morning~!" Thankfully the Maou decided to wear a more normal dress for the occasion, not her business suit or the Magical Girl cosplay. A dark ocean blue one piece.

"So, is everything okay?" Rias asked.

"Yeah..." I smiled at the redhead. "She's all yours." I think only Rin or Sakura would be able to see how strained my smile was at that.

I felt a hand falling on my arm and had to correct myself, adding Akeno to that list. Maybe even more than both Rin and Sakura. After that day my relationship with the Queen changed, obviously. At least at home. When we were at school or in the street, the most she ever does is hold on my arm. Thankfully no rumors sprung up from that day, and we rarely if ever saw each other at school anyway, so it didn't have much difference.

The major changes were obviously with the people who we told about it. Rias' and Shitori's Peerages and the girls at the dorm. I swear I saw money exchanging hands when we told them, and I almost asked for a share of the profits on the third time it happened. I mean, they were betting about something, which means what Akeno had said that day about me being dense was true. So much so that there was a betting pool going around.

One thing that changed too, that I can't understand why, was that nowadays whenever me and Koneko are in the same room, and I'm sitting, the girl simply appropriates herself of my lap and uses as either a bench or a pillow. Since I've been told I was dense about these things I tried very hard to see if there was any deeper meaning in her actions, but nothing actually came to me. To be on the safe side, I began to treat her as I treat Asia, like a little sister, just in case. I mean, I'm sure that Koneko is another one who's smitten with Ise, but her actions with me are leaving me a little leery.

Speaking of the pervert, he had come to talk to me a few days ago about a _serious matter,_ in his own words. Turns out that the kid was so overwhelmed by the fact that he was living with several girls that he didn't know what to do. He didn't have anything to talk to them when they were inside his house that wasn't about school work, devil work or training, and he wanted to know how I did, since I lived with even more girls than him. He even thought that maybe study fashion would be a good idea, and thought that I was knowledgeable because I had bought those clothes for him during his date with Asia. It was funny the way he treated Akeno nowadays too. It was almost like he was treating a goddess or something that required equal reverence. Not even a single look at her breasts in my presence too. Not even with the corners of his eyes. Rias' on the other hand though he seemed to gobble up.

I also begun to train him in using his Ascalon. He's more of a brawler than a swordsman, but his sword was a weapon that shouldn't be left by the wayside. It was a powerful Noble Phantasm and could be used easily if the user was trained right. The only problem we found was that there was several layers of safeguards on it that would only let the user have a portion of its power and would grow as the user grows.

Unfortunately for him I didn't have any good answers on how to do it, besides training. At least in the case of the girls I managed to make him understand that the answers he was looking for wouldn't be found in eroge, porn and hentai.

"So... Let's do the ritual." The redhead's voice came again, pulling me out of my reverie. During the time I had spent inside the training ground, the others who didn't participate were all waiting for their turn outside the Student Council Room.

The whole affair was done in short order, and I excused myself, going outside claiming that I needed air after the exercise inside the training ground. I don't think I fooled anyone but the Lords and Levia-tan, but I didn't actually cared. I walked through the silent school in this morning hours. It wasn't even seven yet, so the front gate wasn't officially open. I went to the rooftop and sat down on the bench, leaning forward to watch the sun rising on the corner of my vision. It would be a beautiful day, without a cloud in sight.

It contrasted starkly with my mood though. I needed some time to readjust now. Just in case, I blocked my connection with the remaining Pieces. No need for them to feel lousy like I am now. At least this time I was more prepared for this sense of loss. I could equate this feeling as similar to the feeling I had when I lost Saber, or better saying, when Saber was stolen from me. 'Having a part of myself being cut off'. It was a fairly accurate description of the sensation I was feeling at the moment.

The six Pieces seemed to be burning a hole in my pocket. Five Pawns and a Bishop. Only a Rook, a Bishop and a Knight to go. Its actually funny in a twisted way. All the Devils are trying to complete their Peerages and I'm actually trying to get rid of mine.

I pulled the Pieces from my pocket and looked at them in my palm, paying particularly close attention to the Mutated Pawn. Solveiga's had mutated during the course of her stay with me, but the girl didn't actually have a specialty to be promoted to. She wasn't particularly fast, strong, durable, or knew too many spells or swordplay. She actually reminded me of an analogy about the duck. The duck can swim, can walk and can fly, but can't do any of those well. Solveiga's case was a little better and I know that if she had a Sacred Gear of any type, Diodora would need to use his Queen Piece the first time he turned her. That was the only thing that I could actually see Solveiga being promoted to. A Queen. She didn't have any strengths in any area, but she was far from being weak in any area, as well. I think that was one of the reasons why her Piece mutated in the first place.

Looking over the other Pieces my eyes fell on Alberta's former Piece, the Bishop. How many times had I tried to stop her from using her Sacred Gear? She's too selfless, that girl, always trying to help even when it would likely hurt herself in the process. Painful Contribution was just that. The pain she feels when using it isn't physical, her body isn't affected by it, but her mystical body and her Soul are. It was hard for me to let that one go, because I felt that she still needed more from me, more than I had given her. Actually, thinking about it, I don't feel like I gave them anything at all. I practically left them to their own devices inside the dorm and only talked with them when they came to me, or when I needed something from them.

I still remember the first time Carmela was struck with a Night Terror. Her memories of the events that happened during her time with Diodora were triggered during a night and she began to yell desperately, and only after I managed to comfort her enough was that I realized that she wasn't the only one. She had been the first that I realized, but all the girls were suffering from those terrors from time to time. They never told me anything, but after the fight with Kokabiel, since our impressions now go both ways, they couldn't deny anymore that I was feeling distressed with the situation and decided to come clean with me. They decided to let me know about the nightmares that plagued them from time to time and I had to one more time curse my own powerlessness against what was happening with the girls.

After that, I spent quite some time trying to talk to them. Not quite a counseling session, but I tried to use everything I could to make them feel better. Still, I don't feel that it was enough.

I took a deep breath, pocketing the Pieces once again when I felt a presence approaching. I could have willed the Pieces away as I learned to do with the Cards of the Brave Saint Deck, but at the moment my mind was jumbled and I completely forgot about. And considering I'm not in the best of moods and just who decides to show up... A few moments later the figure of none other than Azazel, the Fallen Angel former leader of the Grigori, and now a Chemistry Teacher at Kuoh Academy and advisor for the Occult Research Club, appears in the doorway. "Hello, Emiya-kun." I lifted my eyes to the man who walked to the railing where I was turned to, leaning against it and turning back to me.

"Good morning, Azazel-sensei." I nodded to the man.

"Eager for the competition?" He asked, knowing full well why I was so early on school grounds.

"Not really." I shrugged. "If I had a choice to pick an event, maybe I would."

"Yes, yes. Next year with more boys the event spread will be more even, but unfortunately this is not the case for the male third years this year." He nodded sagely as if he had been working at school for years.

We lapsed into a silence when he said that. Azazel was a hard man to pin down. He projected an image of a laid back, easygoing persona, but his eyes were always sharp, analyzing and cataloguing, even during the most inane things. I sighed. Since the man was here, might as well ask a question that it had been on my mind since I discovered about the Fallen Angels... since I killed Raynare. "Say... Why do Angels Fall?"

He looked at me quizzically. "I'm not sure I understand the question."

"Angels are created by God, right?" I asked and he nodded. "And God supposedly is a being of perfection, that can do no wrong, so I'm not sure why he would create a creature that would Fall in the first place. He should know that it was a possibility the moment he created them, so why?"

"Hmmm..." The Fallen stroked his chin, looking above my head to the horizon. "I can't actually talk about what Father thought when he created us, giving us true free will, knowing that we could one day turn our backs on some of his teachings... but it isn't actually quite like that." He chuckled.

"Angels Fall when they Sin, right? At least that was what I read." I shook my head. "Angels that Fall would need to pay a penitence to go back to Heaven, but from what I heard, there's no such a thing as redemption for Fallen Angels."

"Yes, there isn't anymore." He sighed, looking back at me.

"Anymore?"

"In the past, Father would judge a Fallen and bring him back to the Heavenly Choir once the Angel had proved him or herself repentant. That part is correct. The problem is that Father isn't there anymore to pass judgment, so even if a Fallen wanted to be redeemed, they couldn't. Not anymore." He stroked his chin pensively. "Not that I know of any that would want, and I was the leader of the most righteous Fallen Angels on this realm."

"There's no repentant Fallen Angels?" I asked, mildly unnerved by that.

"No, I'm sure there are a few that regret being cast out of Heaven, but the great majority of them Fell on purpose when they discovered that Father was like any other being in this universe, fallible." Azazel crossed his arms, measuring his words. "The ones who regretted mostly despaired and died shortly afterwards, while others tried to continue with Father's last request, to get rid of the world of the filth, the heretics."

"By your tone I imagine that they failed."

"Some did... Some we managed to convince to change theirs way of thinking... Others... Others there was no saving them." He looked at me in the eyes. "Kokabiel, the Fallen Angel you killed was one such Angel. He was a Angel created for war, and couldn't find a meaning for his life any other way. I was too late to save him."

"Are you going to try and exact revenge for a fellow Fallen?" I asked the man, tensing slightly.

"No." He shook his head again, looking up. "I was too late, and that was my error. I had asked Vali to come and take him back, but Vali didn't do what I asked, instead he only watched the fight unfold when he realized that the Sekiryuutei was on the field. When you showed up and killed Kokabiel, it was too late for him to do anything." He shook his head one more time, looking back down at me. "Kokabiel was a warrior... without a war to fight... To put it simply, he was lost. He didn't actually had any hate in him, and was one of those who Fell because of Father's demise. Without His guidance, and without a cause for him to fight, he was lost. He didn't saw the Devils and other Pantheons as actually Evil. They were simply enemies in his eyes. Heretics that should be eradicated as Father decreed when he died."

"If you think I'll feel sorry for killing him..." I began, but was cut off when he began to chuckle.

"Oh, no. Kokabiel would die on the battlefield, that was what he always said. He wouldn't go any other way." He chuckled once more, mirthlessly this time. "I can't say he was my friend, but he was my comrade, my brother."

"Did you too Fell because of the death of God?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, no. I Fell even before that. Much earlier, actually." He smiled the same way a child did, purely, without hiding anything. "I fell because of breasts."

I think one would hear a pin drop for several kilometers such was the silence that fell in between the two of us. A stray wind picked up and blew a few stray leaves in between us and when it died down I asked. "What? I don't think I heard right."

"I Fell because of women's breasts." He repeated.

I traced a kitchen knife and prickled my finger. There's blood and pain, so no, I'm not sleeping.

He didn't seem to realize that I made any moves though, as he began to rant. "A woman's breasts have infinite possibilities. They have so much potential that I became fascinated with them and Fell." He smiled at me again, the same childish pure smile. Now it was actually kind of creepy. "I don't regret it."

I kept watching him for several seconds, waiting to make sure he wasn't pulling my leg. "Okay... I don't know how to talk to you anymore..." I said getting up. "I'll be going now."

Seriously, his attitude was sending shivers down my spine. "Wait... I actually have a few things to talk with you."

I half turned to him. "What?" If he starts talking like Ise about perverted stuff, I think I'll try and cast a spatial transportation spell for the first time in my life, just so I could disappear from here.

"About your Sacred Gear-" He said, and his eyes were back to that sharp tinge that sent me on edge again.

"I don't have a Sacred Gear. I think you yourself was the one who said it." I answered narrowing my eyes.

"At the time we were surrounded by too many people for me to able to talk freely, so I had to improvise." He shrugged. "But you do have it, Emiya-kun." Then he shook his head. "Or to be more precise, your Soul has the same signature as one who possesses a Sacred Gear, but I can't see it anywhere on you."

"That's maybe because I don't have one, just a strange Soul in the first place." I answered him, leaving my feet apart from each other, widening my stance, holding on two swords that weren't traced just yet.

"No." He tilted his head to the side, crossing his arms. "You don't understand. You do have something close to an Artificial Sacred Gear."

"And what is this Artificial Sacred Gear then?" I asked. Artificial Sacred Gears were created by the Grigori, but they were inferior in quality from the ones created by God. At least that much I knew.

"Avalon." He said, making me pause and narrow my eyes further. "But that shouldn't be possible."

"Why's that?"

"Avalon... The Everdistant Utopia... It disappeared three hundred years ago, and no one knows where it is." He answered. It seems Azazel isn't up to speed about the Owner and Partner system. But that isn't my problem at the moment. "At first I thought that we had finally found the first Wielder of Avalon since Arthur, but that was wrong. Your Avalon... Is different from what I remember it."

I turned my back to him. "Then maybe you don't remember correctly, or maybe it's not Avalon in the first place. What I can say is that is part of my Magecraft, and I don't reveal my mysteries to anyone except my apprentices."

"Yes, yes." He said, while exhaling defeated. "Akeno-kun already gave me the third degree about how I knew about your lessons for her and Rias-kun." My eyes widened, but since I was facing the school and not him, he shouldn't have realized. "You see, the reason I wanted to talk to you was to ask if you let me experiment-"

"No." I cut him off bluntly.

"But you may have the secret for us to be able to recreate the Sacred Gears even better than-" I had traced Kanshou and Bakuya on my hands, but I don't think it was because of them that he stopped. Rather it was probably the twelve demonic and fifteen holy spears that I had traced in mid air aimed at him.

"No." I turned my head to the side to look at him with the corner of my eyes. I didn't said with any emphasis. I simply stated.

"Haaaahhh... Very well, I'll not talk about this anymore then..." He said, slumping his shoulders in a movement much too exaggerated to be real.

"If that was all, I'm out of here." I began to walk in the direction of the building once again.

"Wait." He said but I wanted to ignore him, if it wasn't for what he said next. "There's another thing. It's about Akeno-kun."

I noticed idly that I hadn't dismissed the spears yet when I turned to him. "What?"

"Baraqiel wants to, and I'm quoting here, 'fry that good for nothing Magician for stealing my little girl from me'." He smirked at that. "I convinced him to let me come and talk to you first."

"Baraqiel? Who...?" I looked at him blankly for a moment before realization finally came. "Akeno's father?" My voice came out in a growl.

"Yes." The man stepped up to me. "He's very protective of his little girl."

I stared at him in the eyes, making the Fallen stutter a little on his step. "If he was, he wouldn't had let her suffer so much through her early life. She-" I lifted a fist still holding Kanshou, but stopped. "You know what? Let him come. I too have a few words to say to him." And a few feet of steel to introduce him to.

I turned my back to him again, trying to leave the place, but he didn't let me. "Wait. Please, you have to understand. It was the best way for him to protect her against our enemies."

I didn't turn to him. "There are better ways to protect others. Abandoning a seven year girl in the street isn't one of them. Quote this for him them. 'You lost the right to care for her the moment you abandoned her.'"

"She... told you...?" It was the disbelieving voice on his tone that made look at him with the corner of my eyes, but I didn't say anything, just stared at him for a few more moments, before walking away.

I descended to the third floor, going to my classroom. The talk with Azazel at least made me forget about the Pieces being traded, but instead inserted others things in my mind and left me seething. I don't care if the Fallen is her father. If he wants to try to have any claim on her choices, I'll introduce him to business end of a Broken Caladbolg.

I sighed, sitting at my desk, leaning back and closing my eyes. I hadn't even brought my schoolbag today, just the PE uniform and from what I heard, that would be enough. Actually, the event I'll be participating is set to begin mid-morning, so I shouldn't even be here. There's no homeroom today too. I took another deep breath, lifting the block on the connection I had with the other three girls and felt that they were okay at the moment. They were somewhere on the athletics field, probably helping with the preparation of the competition. Honestly, I should probably go there myself.

"So here's where you've been hiding?" I heard her voice near the door, before I felt her presence getting closer and heard a chair being pulled beside my desk. "I thought that you would be on the rooftop."

"I was." I answered, leaning back a little more. "But the company was getting on my nerves so I left."

"The girls were worried since you cut their connection and asked me to come check up on you." She explained.

"Humm... Didn't want them to feel what I was feeling." I sighed. "I already removed the block, so they don't have to worry." I cracked an eye at the redhead, since she seemed to be fidgeting about something, but wasn't sure how to say it. "Out with it. What was the real reason you came?"

"It's... About Akeno..." She said.

"You too?" I asked, disbelievingly.

"Too?"

"Azazel came to me with a message from her father." I said to the girl. "Apparently he's not happy with our new status."

"Oh." She smiled a little tentatively. "I imagine that its the reason why you're here instead of your usual spot?"

"Partially." I conceded.

"Anyway... What I wanted to talk about is something a little different, I think." She said, going back to mess with the tips of her hair.

"Sure. Shoot."

"First, I wanted to know... how that happened?" She said and I raised an eyebrow at her. "She won't tell me."

"How what happened?" I asked.

"How did she became an Owner?" She asked and I sighed.

"I have no idea. Michael didn't answer my last message I sent through Gabriel. Right now all I want is to find the other Owners so that Avalon can be reunited and choose a Wielder." I answered her.

"But she wasn't human when she was born..."

"I know, alright. But Gasper too had a Sacred Gear and he wasn't completely human when he was born too." I snapped at the redhead, then began muttering to myself. "I swear that Michael has a lot to answer for. He told me that he knew who the Owners were. He said that an Owner couldn't have been turned into a Devil. The Part should have protected her from the Ritual. And I know that he wasn't lying, otherwise he should have Fallen, right? I wasn't the only one speaking half-truths that day, apparently."

"Shirou?" The redhead asked and I realized that I had began to ramble.

I reigned in my temper. "Sorry. It's just that this situation is getting on my nerves."

"What you mean?"

"I mean... Did I ever told you about the Servants and Masters?" I asked the redhead and she nodded. "Well, if there's no Grail in this world, or at least no Heaven's Feel Ritual, I think the analogue would be the Owners and Partners."

"Why do you say that?" She leaned forward, eyes gleaming with interest.

"Because I've been having the Dream Cycle again." I sighed and leaned back. "And I've been seeing Akeno's life."

"What?!" She shrieked.

"I've been dreaming about Akeno's life." I repeated to her. "And that's why I need to find some way to finish this... Force Avalon to choose a Wielder..."

"What? Why?" She asked again.

"Because... Rias... Remember what I said about the connection between a Servant and a Master? Its stronger than any marriage, any camaraderie, any friendship, even stronger than a Devil Pact, where both parties have their Souls open to each other..." I sighed. "She... She said she loved me, Rias."

The leap in logic was too great for her apparently. "What does..."

"What if it was because the Part had already designated me as her Partner." I sighed again. "I don't want to have that doubt hovering over our heads..." Not to mention the other doubt I had because I had the Avalon from my world and the Part could be resonating with it instead.

The redhead waited a few moments, digesting the information, until she sighed. "I see... So its better that I don't talk to you about the other trade until then too..."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What other trade?"

"Oh." She put a hand on her mouth, wide eyed, then slumped defeated. "Its something I was hoping to talk to you... but if you are having these doubts now... its better that we talk about it later too."

"What are you talking about, Rias?"

"Akeno asked me to trade her with you." The redhead answered me after sighing in defeat.

"What?!" I sat upright in a instant. "Why?!"

"Because... She would be with you..." She looked downhearted. "Be yours..."

"Why she didn't talk directly to me then?" I asked disbelievingly. "Or said anything for that matter?"

"I don't know, alright?" The redhead snapped at me. "How do you think I feel? She has been with me for as long as I can remember! And now she wants to get away just because she fell for a... a... a..." She sighed, slumping again. "A great guy that I can't even find a flaw strong enough to demean."

"Huh... Thank you...?" I answered confused.

"But now that you said that... I understand what you mean about finding the other Owners... If you were her King... and what Solveiga said about the feelings she had during her time with you is true, then you two would always have that hanging over your heads... Has she fallen for you because of the Part? Is she still with you because you are her King?" She shook her head. "Yes... Let's revisit this conversation when she doesn't have that Part with her anymore."

"What... Why?" I asked bewildered. "Why would she-"

"Because she wants to." The redhead cut my thought. "Simple as that."

I sat there looking at her bewildered but closed my eyes and relented. "Alright. I'll talk with her later."

"Good." She appeared miffed, but then looked up pensive. "And here I was thinking that she was still crushing on Ise, but then out of nowhere she comes to me saying that she had fallen for you."

"What's this about her crushing on Ise? I hadn't heard anything about that." I looked at her confused again. "At least, not from her."

She blinked, surprised. "What do you mean? She was always competing with me for his attention."

"Hummm..." I stroked my chin looking up. "First I heard of it. I mean, I know that almost every single female that gets near the boy is smitten by him in some way or another." Then I frowned. "Well, with the exception of the girls that live on the dorm not named Ravel or Asia."

"Ravel too?" She asked wide eyed. "That one I didn't know."

I stuffed a hand in my mouth to stop the laugh that was bubbling. "I think she found him after one of our latest training sessions and became infatuated. Anyway, almost every other girl he comes across gets like that around him, which boggles my mind to no end, but hey... Whatever works for you guys."

"Hey..." She began indignant. "It doesn't work for any of us..." She said in a burst, then realized what she was saying and blushed. "I mean, we haven't done anything like you guys did..."

"What?" I asked her.

"You know... I mean... " She continued to blush until she realized that I was smirking at her and punched me in the arm with all her Devil strength. "Why you..." The blow made the chair tilt so far to the side so fast that I didn't have time to rebalance myself and hit my head on the corner of the other desk.

After shaking off the blow on my head, I got up and glared at the redhead. "Are you trying to kill me, woman?" I righted my chair again.

"As if a little fall would do you in." She crossed her arms, looking to the side, but when she looked back at me she winced. "Oh, sorry."

I looked at her blankly. It was only then that I felt my scalp a little damp, passing a hand on it, apparently the collision had been enough to open a cut on my head. "Oh, don't worry. It'll heal."

She got up anyway, and leaned over me, putting a hand over my head. I felt her demonic power flare and the pain began to ebb. "I'm not as skilled as Akeno or Asia at this, but even I know some basic healing spells." Her position put her breasts basically in my face, so in order to not feel flustered with the position I closed my eyes.

"Thanks, but it wasn't necessary." I said to her.

"What you mean?" She asked, and I felt her sitting back on the other chair.

"I told you before that I have a few healing artifacts, didn't I?"

"Oh, right." She shook her head. "But they are costly to project, right?"

"A little..." I admitted, not mentioning that Avalon would actually heal this kind of damage more quickly than any other healing artifact I had.

Another silence lapsed between us, then she sighed. "Anyway, how it happened?"

"How what happened?" I asked. "The Part thing I have-"

"No. Not that." She slapped my arm again. "I mean, how did you two worked things out between the two of you?"

I thought about the scene one more time in my head and shrugged. "I'm told I'm dense, so she had to literally spell out to me. Simple."

"Just that?" She raised an eyebrow. "You didn't take her to a good restaurant, or maybe to a good dating spot, or anything like that?"

"I wasn't the one doing the confession part." I pointed out. "And no, even if I was going to do it, I wouldn't do that. I tried once during high school... The first time, I mean... It doesn't work so well when the other party isn't actually interested in that stuff. I take that you tried to get through to Ise and is looking for ideas, right?"

She blushed. "How can you see things through so easily but didn't realize that Akeno wanted to go out with you?"

"I..." I shrugged closing my eyes. "I'm used to observe others. Their apparent feelings and dispositions." In the past, when I still hadn't found ways to feel my own feelings I used them as templates to mimic them after all. "It's not as easy when it's about myself." Then I looked at her again. "So, hit the nail in the head?"

She looked down, nodding meekly. "Yes."

"Look, from what I know of the kid, he isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so elaborated things won't work with him. He lived so much of his life with only his two friends and porn mags that it skewed his sense of reality. He may be an hormonal teenager, but he's too afraid of doing anything because he fears it will make him realize that it was his delusion form the beginning."

"What do you mean?"

"I had a talk with him a few days ago. He wants to be able to talk with you girls, like normal conversations, but since he doesn't know how to talk... girl talk... he feels slightly... ostracized in his own house." I sighed, trying to put my thoughts on the matter in order. "I think that even if you got completely naked in front of him and led the whole encounter he would still feel that way in the end. Since you girls seem to be okay with his perverted side, he doesn't know how to act. I mean, he used to be shunned by the girls before, so all the attention he's receiving now... It's going only one way..."

"I still don't understand."

"To be honest, I think that he wants the physical part of a relationship, but he has some deep emotional scars and that's why he doesn't want to believe that a girl as beautiful as you, or as cute as Asia and Koneko, or even Ravel, are even considering him as a partner." I closed my eyes. "My recommendation in your case is foregoing all those elaborate setups and simply sit down and talk."

"But that's... not romantic." She said and frowned.

I shrugged. "No, it's not. But if you want to get anywhere that isn't just a bed, if you really want a connection with him that has nothing to do with you being his King, I think you first have to do is sit down and talk with him. I mean, he'll love it if you want just the first option, but what is that you actually want? Is it what he actually needs?"

"I..." She sighed. "I don't actually know myself now."

"Good food for thought, don't you think?" I waited a few seconds then laughed quietly. "Of course, everything I said could be me reading the signs wrong and he's already so smitten by you that he simply doesn't know what to do."

She slapped me on the shoulder, smiling herself before getting up. "Thank you, Shirou."

"Sure. See you later." I waved her off while mulling over the conversation. Ise will either curse or praise my name in short order depending on what the redhead decides to do. Either way, he's in for some changes in his life.

Ise was the first, out of everyone who trained with me, to understand the concepts of the training exercises I taught them. He was also the one who worked the hardest during those first ten days, often times I had to carry him back to the lodge where we slept, just because he simply couldn't even move anymore. Asia got a lot of mileage with her Sacred Gear during that time too because of him. Out of all my friends here in this universe, I think both him and Kiba are the only ones I could call as real male friends. Thinking about it, they are the only real male friends I had in years, actually.

I got up from my chair, to get to the locker room and change into the PE uniform for the Sports Day. Kuoh Academy had some interesting rules for this day. Contrary to the standard fare, it wasn't a competition completely between classes. There were three teams, red, white and blue, and the team leaders could trade competitors, and it didn't matter what classes they were from, as long as each team had the same number of competitors in each event from each year. In other words, the Class Representative collected the events that everyone would participate ahead of time and the three team leaders choose their integrants for every different competition. It shot class unity to hell, but made for a more cohesive school as a whole, since you had to work with people from other classes that you wouldn't normally in a competition between classes.

At first I thought that it was something that the teachers decided in order to make the competition actually be competitive, since it would let the team leaders decide who would go where, but discarded the thought the moment I saw who were two of the team leaders. Shitori and Rias. In other words, the Sports Day was actually so that the two could compete against each other since both of them were team leaders for the blue team and the red team, and their Pieces were all suspiciously drafted for their own teams. Poor Ravel got caught up in the middle of that and her Peerage was divided all over the place. Well, mine would have been too, but that was before the trades this morning. Turns out that the three girls still part of my group were in the same team as me, the White team.

Apparently the leader of the White team was a girl from Shitori's class, and wanted to trade me with all her might, but Rias and Shitori couldn't decide between them who would get me and decided to flip a coin. The coin itself landed unbelievably upright on top the table and they took it as a sign that I should stay where I was. When I mentioned the odds of that happening, they said that exactly because the odds were so low, it was better to leave things as they were.

When I finally made my way to the White Team's tent, things went oddly silent the moment I stepped inside and I was pulled aside quickly by Margareth.

"Shirou-sama... They are saying you were communing with the enemy." The Rook said and I looked back at her puzzled.

"What?"

"That you were inside one of the classrooms with one of the team leaders of the other groups and was passing to her our strategies." The black haired girl whispered in my ear, while pulling her phone. "This photo was passed around, showing that you two were kissing as well."

My eyes bulged. "That didn't happen..." I looked at the picture and, from the angle, it sure looked like the redhead was kissing me while I was sitting on the chair. The person who took the picture must have been on the rooftop across from that classroom because it was clear that it had been magnified several times in order to get close enough to see anything. "Oh... That was when I hit my head on the desk and she was healing me..." Then I slumped my shoulders. "Great, just what I needed. Another rumor..."

"Actually... There's people thinking that the rumors from before that we debunked had truth to them." Astrid appeared behind the Rook. "Just that now they say that you are after the Onee-samas of Kuoh."

I looked around, trying to find a wall to bang my head against, but alas there was nothing. "Great... Just... great..." I sighed. "Look, you two know the truth, right?" I asked and they nodded. "Then forget about the rest. I don't care anymore."

They narrowed their eyes at me. "Shirou-sama. Look at what happened last time you didn't do anything about the rumors." Astrid said, putting both her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, yeah. We have to do something early about it this time." Margareth concurred. "I'll go get Giselle and we'll go talk to Rias and Akeno-sama."

"Wait-" I was interrupted even before I managed to lift my hand to the Rook.

"Leave this to us, Shirou-sama." Astrid said. "Until they talk with the other two, I'll not leave your side."

I looked at the obstinate Bishop and elected to obey. If they want to cut off the rumor before it began, then it was better that way. "Alright, but let me at least talk to our team leader to assuage her worries.

"Sure." She said and looped her arm on mine. "Let's go."

I eyed her, perplexed, but decided to let her be. When I entered the tent once again, the whispers began again. I sighed and looked at the girl beside me. "You know what? Screw it." I got on top of one of the tables. "Hello!" I said loudly. "A minute of your attention please." I coughed once and began. "If whatever you guys are thinking, that I sold our teams strategies to another team... Let me point out two things first. One, when have any of you ever saw me sitting on one of the strategy meetings? I didn't even know what event _I_ would be participating until someone pointed out to me a few days ago. Two, the photo you are all seeing was taken from a bad angle. At the time I was talking with Rias and she saw something on my head and was looking over it. And a bonus fact for anyone who doesn't know. I already have a girlfriend that isn't her so can you guys cut it out with undermining our team with these baseless rumors and try to think in ways to have fun with the competition instead of already trying to find excuses for why we lost even before we start?"

There was a pregnant silence inside the tent. Then I saw three types of reactions, mostly. One, the nonplussed, who simply took in what I said then went back to whatever they were doing. The second reaction was to slump on their shoulders, fishing something in their pockets and bags. The third was what I expected. They cheered loudly.

It just that it took me some moments to realize that they cheered not because of the spirit of competition I tried to instill with the speech, but because the ones who slumped where paying them. "What the hell?" I muttered.

"Looks like its enough for me to cash in too." I heard the leader of the White team, the black haired girl who apparently copied her haircut from Shitori.

"Why?"

"Because I bet that you already had a girlfriend." She nodded to herself before she realized that she was talking to the person in question, then turned wide eyed at me. "I mean..."

"Seriously? There was a school wide betting pool about my relationship status or something?"

"Well..." She laughed weakly.

"Oh, there was, Shirou-sama." Astrid said from beside me as soon as I climbed down from the table. "I think only you didn't know. Even Asia-chan and Akeno-sama knew."

My neck creaked slowly in the direction of the blonde. "What?" I asked flatly.

"Exactly what I said." She nodded, smirking at me. "There was even a group on Line where everyone could chat about it..." She fished her cellphone from her bag at the table. "Here."

I looked at the thingamabob and there it was... "'Emiya-Sempai Harem King. True or false?' What the hell is that?"

"Oh, we discovered this group when we where investigating those perverts. From there it morphed into a betting pool, to discover who was your real girlfriend since there was more than twenty of us living at the dorm. There's even some bets saying that you were still in the closet." The girl nodded to herself.

I eyed the thing with mild horror then turned back to the Bishop. "And no one thought in telling me?"

"Where would the fun be in that?" I heard a voice at my back and slumped my shoulders.

"Xuelaaaan..." I growled at the chinese martial artist. She too was part of the White Team, judging by her headband.

"Ah, zip it, Shirou. You know as well as everyone that you wouldn't do anything even if you knew." She stopped beside me crossing her arms below her breasts and put her weight on her right leg, tilting her whole body. "I mean, you knew there were rumors before and did nothing."

"I did nothing because I thought that no one would be stupid enough to believe that load of bull that those rumors were about." I had the odd feeling of seeing several people suddenly looking down as if they were slapped in the face. "I mean, a rotation schedule?" Again the same feeling. "Trying to complete said schedule for the whole thirty days of the month?" And again. "Treating everyone of you as little more than maids?" Again. "Or the one that I was the son of Arab Sheik that needed to choose several wives?"

"Shirou-sama." Astrid pinched my side lightly and I turned to the girl, but she wasn't looking at me, but at the surprisingly empty tent.

I looked over the place and cocked my head. "Where did..." I was about to ask where they had gone when I realized that they were all on their knees or on the floor sprawled as if they had received a beating.

"Shirou..." Xuelan shook her head disbelievingly.

"What happened here?" Rias' voice came from the entrance, a tone of urgency and shock on her as she walked to the nearest person.

"Oh, my..." Akeno's voice came too, accompanied by the gasps of both my Rook and Knight.

"Shirou-sama gave them a beating." Astrid answered to which Xuelan nodded.

"I didn't even move from here." I said, indignant.

"We know." The chinese martial artist said. "But you beat them nonetheless."

I gave up trying to make sense of that scene and simply sat down again. In the end, Akeno and Rias understood something from Xuelan words and simply walked away back to their tent giggling after giving me a pitying look. Giselle and Margareth looked at me with disbelief but I could feel a little awe through their Pieces too.

I just sat there while the others began to bustle and hustle all around me.

I just didn't care about that anymore.

* * *

During lunchbreak, me and the three girls still connected to me were sitting on the grass at the side of the athletic field preparing to eat lunch when both Akeno and Asia came to our side to sit and accompany us. During the morning I finally managed to put my feelings on the trades in order and now was back to normal, or as normal as I can be. Due to some hiccups in the morning schedule, mostly because of how heated the competition between the Red and Blue teams became, the marathon had been postponed to start during the afternoon.

When both girls sat down, I could see that Asia was smiling and blushing at the same time, while looking at nothing in particular. From time to time she would give a small giggle and go back to stare off into space. I turned to Akeno who was chatting with Astrid at the moment to ask what the hell happened with the former Nun, but was beaten to the punch by Margareth.

"What happened with Asia-chan?" The Rook asked, signaling the Nun with a look that was in between confused and curious.

"Oh? I don't actually know the specifics. I think she finally got a kiss from Ise-" Akeno said that and suddenly I felt something dripping in my hands. I looked down only to realize that at some point during her explanation I had smashed the paper cup that was full of tea with my hand, which brought the attention of the others to me. I looked at it puzzled for a second, not really understanding how did that happened. "Oh, come off of it, Shirou." Akeno said and I looked at her, drawing a blank on what she meant by that.

"What?"

"It was just a kiss. No need to go all overprotective now." The girl said and the others giggled, while I tilted my head aside. During all of this, Asia hadn't said a word to us. Actually, she was apparently oblivious to the world, because her chopsticks were missing her bento box completely, but she was still transporting it to her mouth as if she was eating normally. I think she was even chewing up air.

I cleaned my hand with a napkin. "I'm not being overprotective." I answered the girl. "I just don't want you guys to suffer. You know that."

"Yeah, yeah." Akeno took the napkin from my hand and began to clean it up herself. "Issei-kun already knows what will happen once you get in this state." The name of the pervert brought another reaction from the blonde Sister. Her head whipped in our direction and her eyes focused better, before she began to look at each of us in turn and then back to her hands where her bento box was.

"When did...?" She said, tilting her head, before blushing even harder and went back to giggling softly.

"Yeah... She's been like this for a while now." The Shrine Maiden said, smiling fondly at the girl.

"Worst of all is that I can't really blame her..." I sighed.

"Oh? Are you too falling to the wills of the pervert, Onii-sama?"

"What?!" I let a decidedly unmanly yelp. "No! I was just remembering when I fell-" Then I stopped my eyes widening. I've never fell in love with Rider. That didn't happen! Rider was dead even before the war begun in earnest. "By the Root..." I muttered. The memories. It has been so long that I had thought about them that only when an incongruity like this appears that I realize it.

"Shirou?" Akeno got closer.

"When it happened?" I muttered to myself. I began to retrace my history, from the end of the Grail War until the moment I was transported to this world, as much as I could. It couldn't have happened, not in my reality. It couldn't have. The timeline wouldn't allow it. The answer was obvious, it wasn't from the same timeline, the same reality, that the memories came from, but the feeling was the same as if I had really lived through it.

"Shirou..." The Shrine Maiden hugged me. "Calm down."

Only when she mentioned I realized that I was hyperventilating. "My memories... By the Root, my memories..." Tears began to form on my face. I couldn't decide what were my real memories. "What's happening to me..."

"Shirou... If you don't explain what's happening, we won't understand." The Shrine Maiden said, but when I whipped my head to her I couldn't form a coherent sentence. "Shirou!"

"Onii-chan!?" A frightened Asia asked.

I took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "I..." Should I tell them about the memories? "I've been..." Its best that someone knows, but here is not the best place to talk about it. "I need to think." I answered them, getting up. "I'm sorry. Come to the workshop later tonight." I took a deep breath. "Tell Shitori and Rias that I need them there too." I sighed. "Right now, the competition will be enough to distract me."

"Shirou..." Akeno again.

"Please..."

They relented after taking a look at my face. The rest of the day passed in a blur. I think I Reinforced my legs at some point during the marathon and would have broken several records when I came back if it wasn't for Akeno, Asia, Astrid, Giselle and Margareth physically restraining me about a kilometer from the goal line. I almost barreled through them even then.

After the event, I was escorted back home by the trio of Knight, Bishop and Rook. The three of them were ostensibly there to go home with me, but they were actually feeling the distress coming from me. I asked them to leave me alone in the workshop, and I even thought that they wouldn't leave me, but I think I made it an order without meaning to, because they left a few moments later.

My head was swimming with several others implications that the memories could be doing. I spent the whole time after my conversation during lunch doing a step by step of all the memories for my whole life. From the moment I saw Kiritsugu's face in the fire to the moment Lancer pierced my heart I could do it well enough, but from there it seemed like my memories began to branch all over the place. As if that was a point in my life that actually changed everything. I even remember memories that I summoned other Servants instead of Saber, but since I knew that those weren't my memories I stopped thinking about them immediately.

From that point, I painstakingly began to retrace my steps to the battles I fought during the Grail War, and even in one situation when I thought I had managed to find the correct memories I realized that I went wrong somewhere because in this set of memories Saber had somehow stayed behind after the war! Rin had managed to somehow maintain Saber on the world as a contracted familiar!

I shook it off and retraced the memories one more time from the summoning of Saber until the end of the Grail War. From there it seemed easier to continue retracing my steps, but I still fell in some pitfalls from time to time, but I finally managed to retrace everything correctly until I reappeared on this world. From there it was easier.

Making sure that I did everything right, I began to make notes, jotting down the major points where things seemed to change. After I finished it, I reread one more time to make sure everything was correct when another thing struck me. I was trying to figure out since when the memories had been influencing me and discovered something that made my stomach take a dive.

Agni Gandiva. The Flame God's Yell. In the timeline I had just wrote down, I shouldn't have seen this weapon. Reaching for its history inside Unlimited Blade Works, I discovered that I had seen it during the Grand Orders, but I had no idea what the Grand Orders even were! I stopped thinking about it immediately, going back to the notes. Several of the Noble Phantasms I had traced lately weren't ones I had seen. The Betrayer, Drachenloch, Yerevan Slayer... None of them I saw during my own life. They came from the memories, and I was using them without realizing.

I looked again over the notes and grimaced. Why didn't I realize that I wasn't supposed to know these Noble Phantasms... Did the weapons began to appear on my Reality Marble when I came here? What did it mean?

"Shirou." I heard Rias' voice on the door for the workshop. I hadn't even realized that it had been so long, because it was getting dark outside and I had unconsciously using Reinforcement in my eyes to keep writing.

"Hey." I waved and tried to take a deep breath. Whatever was on my face made Akeno, who was behind redhead, practically barrel through the girl to get close to me and hug me. I didn't protest her movement, because I honestly was needing some of this.

"Shirou, what's happening?" They had to stay behind at school after the Sports Day was over to take care of the clean up. Shitori and her Peerage because they were part of the Student Council and Rias because Azazel had signed them up to be part of the committee.

"I have a few ideas..." I lifted my hand to the runes on the wall and channeled my Od through them to activate the sound barrier filter. "What I say to you three now isn't to get out of here, okay?"

"Shirou-"

"Please, promise me." I asked them.

"Alright, I promise." Shitori said, moving to be beside where I was.

"I promise too." The redhead said a moment later, but she seemed more miffed.

I sighed and handed over to them my notes. "Take a look at this..."

"Seems like a timeline..." Shitori said and Akeno craned her neck to look over the notebook with Rias.

"Your life." The Shrine Maiden said whipping her head back to me.

"Yeah. That should be the timeline for my life." I answered them. "A few months ago I began to receive memories that weren't mine. Memories that were from other instances of 'Emiya Shirou' across the multiverse."

"What do you mean?" Shitori asked and I sighed.

"I came from a parallel universe." I closed my eyes, trying to think of a better way to explain, giving up halfway. "Basically, I don't belong here, and I don't know why, but I've been recalling memories that aren't mine. Things I shouldn't know, things that it would be impossible for me to know, things that I shouldn't have seen... I've been recalling these things."

"Emiya... Are you sure you aren't thinking about a dream or a delusion or something?" Shitori asked, and I sighed, getting up from my position and walking to the Formalcraft Circle. I traced Agni Gandiva. "This was the bow I used when I killed one of the Fallen when we went to rescue Asia the first time." I pulled the string and they saw the arrow turn into a flame version of itself. I dismissed the bow without firing it. "I shouldn't even be able to trace this weapon because, one, it's a Divine Weapon, and two, I never saw this weapon going over that timeline. I had chalked up the fact I was able to trace it because in this world the Age of the Gods is still ongoing, but now I'm not sure anymore."

"What does one thing have to do with the other?" Shitori seemed clueless.

I sighed, but before I could explain, Akeno took over. "Shirou can reproduce any bladed weapon that he sees. Just a glimpse is enough for him to be able to make an almost perfect copy of it."

Shitori's eyes widened and questioned. "That's the secret of your spells? Was that how you made all those weapons?"

"In part. When I see a weapon, I don't only see its properties or its physical form. I see its history. I can mimic the wielder's skills and strengths, as well as weaknesses." I traced Berserker's Axe-Sword. The three of them jumped back at the sheer size of the slab of rock. "This was used be the Heroic Spirit Heracles during the Grail War. It's just a piece of rock, with no special properties, but ingrained in it are the wielders skills, abilities and strength. I can mimic that. I'm a Faker."

"Faker?" Akeno's question came more in tone of realization than bewilderment.

"A Faker is someone who specializes in Gradation Air, Projection. I take it a step further with Tracing, not only copying the physical form of the weapon, but also its atributes, history, spells, seals, runes... everything that make the weapon what it is." I sighed again, dismissing the Sword-Axe. "But getting back to the problem at hand, I shouldn't be able to use several of the weapons I used in the last few months. Heck, I shouldn't be able to trace things that aren't weapon so easily." I concentrated again and traced a Mutated Pawn. "Here, see?"

Shitori got close and upon inspecting the Piece her eyes widened in realization. "An unlinked Mutated Pawn... That's... Unheard of."

"Problem is, even if I treat it as a Mystic Code of sorts, an Evil Piece isn't a bladed weapon. Heck, it isn't a weapon, period. I shouldn't be able to copy it like this, but I've been doing things like this for several months already without realizing."

"What are you getting at, Shirou?" Rias asked me, eyes calculating.

"I'm losing it, is what I'm getting at." I summarized. "Earlier today I was talking with you about something like it had happened in my life, but going over my life in that timeline," I pointed to the forgotten notebook on Shitori's hands. "it shouldn't have been possible so it came from another version of me."

"And what does that..." She tried again.

"I shouldn't be able to even trace things that aren't bladed weapons so easily. Or even that bow, but I had used it months ago, even before I knew the three of you were Devils. That means that these memories have been appearing in my head long before I realized. In that timeline I drew there, I should have never even have come accross Agni Gandiva at all."

"But Shirou..." Rias began frowning. "Isn't that a good thing? You have more weapons you can use, right?"

"No... Its not." I crumpled down on the ground. "I don't even know if that timeline I drew is the correct one. There are too many memories coming to me, and all of them feel real." I signaled to the workbench. "Get that other notebook there."

Rias complied and began to read it. "It's the same... No... It changes..."

"Are you saying that you yourself don't know who you are anymore?" Akeno asked.

"Yes... No... I don't know " I looked at the trio, then at my hands. "Even Soul Diving... I didn't even realize, but I shouldn't be able to know how to do that..."

"Shirou..." Akeno knelt behind me drawing my head into her bossom.

"Who am I..." I asked. "I'm afraid to lose it completely..."

"Shirou..." Rias began in a soothing voice. "You have been living here with us normally since you came... Just because what you remember from before isn't adding up-"

"Memories are what defines us, what makes us who we are!" I lashed out at the redhead. "Ask any of the girls on the dorm what they feel about not remembering their time at Diodora's mercy. All those years. They should be more shocked, more traumatized, but they aren't... They are able to live almost normal lives... That's because they don't have most of that trauma."

"Emiya-san..." Shitori tried to interject, but I continued without giving her time to properly form her sentence.

"I'm the exact opposite. I have too many memories... too many _conflicting_ memories..." I sighed and crumpled again, then pointed to the notebook. "In one set of them... I think is pages five and six there... In one of them I killed the woman I loved at the time in order to save humanity from the destruction she would create just for existing." Akeno stiffened on my back. "In the other set I didn't do that, but a whole lot of people died because of it before we managed to stop her. Even myself died and was recreated. Even... Illya..."

"Your sister..." The Shrine Maiden tried to envelope me harder on her body, but I was too stiff to move.

"I shouldn't even remember Illya. The only memories I should have of Illya was that of a psychotic child who was hell bent on killing me because, from her point of view, I stole her father." I shook my head. "See where I'm going with this? Memories defines us, makes us who we are. Asia reminded me so much of Illya the first time I met her that I wanted to help her no matter what, even thought I shouldn't be able to remember Illya in the same way Asia reminded me of her. Since when has these memories been scrambling my behaviour?"

"Shirou..."

"And now... Now I'm a Partner..." I sighed, putting my head down once again. "When it happened, I saw the faces of every other Owner and Partner... Faces I shouldn't be able to recognize, but did. Worse still, I know all of them. At first I thought that maybe I was remembering the faces of random people I knew in my life, but there were subtle differences... and then came the faces of people that, going by that timeline, I shouldn't have met." I pointed again to the notebook. "Look at the last page. The names there are the other Owners and Partners. Kotomine Kirei, Kotomine Risei, Emiya Kiritsugu, Irisviel Von Einzbern, Mitsudzuri Ayako, Tohsaka Rin, Tohsaka-sensei, Tohsaka Sakura, Matou Shinji, Matou Kariya, Bazett Fraga, Caren Ortensia... I've never met at least three of those people... But I know them from one memory or another."

"Shirou... What do you mean you saw the faces of the others Owners and Partners." Akeno asked. "You hadn't told me that."

"Akeno..." I sighed. "I didn't realized until I was drawing the timeline. At first I simply thought that was another round of memory lapse that had came over me, but then the knowledge of the Partner was bestowed upon me by the Part."

She pulled back and knelt behind my back. "But what does that have to do..."

"Michael said that the Parts don't empower anyone. But the legends about them exist." I sighed. "So the Owners are being hunted in order to have the Pieces removed. At first I thought that they only killed the Owners hoping to receive the Part later, but if they are aware of the supernatural and at least the Fallen and the Church have methods to remove Sacred Gears, who's to say that they also don't know about such methods? At least three of the Owners and Partners I saw are connected to the Church. Who knows about the rest."

"I see..." Shitori said after absorbing what I said. "Even if they don't empower anymore, people will still want them, thinking that they do..."

"Not anymore. They never did." I corrected the bespectacled girl. "So I need to find them as fast as possible. Michael isn't answering my messages..."

"But why do you need to find them so fast?" The redhead asked.

"Akeno's a target, Rias." I sighed. "I want Avalon to chose a Wielder before I lose it completely."

"We could try to alter your memories with your permission, Shirou." She said, crouching down in front of me.

"It won't work... Remember when you tried before?" I asked. "Whatever is happening is blocking what you can do."

"But that was only a quick spell, I can try something more powerful." She tried again. "I don't usually use it, but..."

"Emiya-san... While I don't understand nearly half of what is being said here... Why don't we try a simple solution? If doesn't work, then we try something different later?" Shitori began, she too knelt in front of me. "Think of everything you remember of your life before as a movie or a story, and your life began after you came to this world. That way, even if all the memories you have from before are conflicting, you have at least somewhere to ground yourself until we find a way to remove those memories."

I shook my head. "Weren't you guys listening to what I said? Memories are what shape us. My behaviour is being influenced by these memories without I even realizing. What if I become a lunatic and don't even recognize any of you at a moments notice?" I shook my head. "Before that happens, I have to make sure that whatever is happening, doesn't get any of the girls on the dorm, Asia and Akeno in the crossfire. I have to make sure I sever all the ties I have in this world and use the partial spatial teleportation spell I developed to take me away from here."

"NO!" Akeno jumped from her position behind my back to my lap. "I've resigned myself to lose you once you go to your world, but I can't let you do something like that. You'll have no idea where you'll be going and will have no one there to tell you who you really are."

"I know, but is the only solution I can think of, Akeno." I smiled at the girl who was looking at me with unshed tears. "What'll happen if at some point one of the memories that comes back to me is of me being a Devil hunter or something?"

"Wait! What do you mean, come back?" Shitori asked now. "Don't you have all the memories with you already?"

I shook my head. "No... They appear out of nowhere... At first it was during dreams... Then during combat... Or at least I thought it was... Anyway, they appear out of nowhere and I can't control. I don't know if its because of the experiment that brought me here in the first place or because Akasha or Gaia or Alaya doesn't know who is the real me and is trying to find the right one by sending me these memories, or if there's some other reason."

"Let me try then." Rias said, kneeling in front of me, her eyes flashing red.

"Try what?" I asked the girl. "We already estabilished that whatever is happening with me, your spells can't change my memories."

She brought her hand to her chest while chanting something, then put her hand on my face, opening it forming a sigil on her palm.

The moment her hands opened in front of my face I felt the push. It was like a hammer hitting an anvil, except my head was both. I felt my mind break and a gasp escaped my lips. "Stop!" I cried out, at the same time that both Shitori and Akeno called out to me, but my eyes were slightly unfocused. When I finally could see clearly again, what I saw was... that the girl in front of me was... sprawled backwards with a sword embebbed in the floor in between her legs... I gasped for air, but I couldn't stave off the headache. "What the hell, woman!?"

She was too surprised to say anything, so I just continued to verbally beat down her.

"Give me a little warning when you'll try something like that. Last time someone tried to alter my memories I skewered him with twenty seven blades." I paused then, my eyes widening. "No... I... didn't..." I shook my head, punching the floor. "Damn it! See? That's what's happening. I never did that, but I feel like I did."

"I didn't-"

"You didn't think." I snarled, then shook my head once again. "No..." I took a deep breath. "See... I'm already losing it. I have to find these people as fast as possible, before I don't recognize anyone anymore."

"But, Shirou..." Akeno hugged me from behind.

"There's no other way. I suppose maybe someone could tamper with my memories, but I don't trust anyone else to do it, besides you three." I shook my head once more.

There was a silence in between us for several moments. I was tired, sore, and still haven't had the time to process all that happened in the last twelve hours, that I almost snapped when someone knocked on the door and shouted. "Lord Emiya!" Ravel's voice came from behind the door. "Please come, it's urgent!"

I hung my head, before getting up and disabling the noise barrier runes. "What is it, Ravel?" I asked, defeated.

"Father and Brother are here and they want to talk with you." She said, eyes shining with something I couldn't identify. "But they can't enter the house without you inviting them, right?"

"Brother?" My mood went almost murderous. "What is Riser doing here?"

"Oh, no, no, no. It's not Brother Riser. It's Brother Ruval." Her voice had something of excitment on it. "They are on the lobby of the dorm."

"Who's Ruval?" I asked to no one in particular, but the blonde decided to answer anyway.

"My oldest Brother, first Heir of the Phenex Clan."

I grimaced. "I see..." Then I sighed. "I'll-" I was cut off yet again when Akeno made her presence known behind the other Devil.

"Shirou..." Akeno's voice cut me off. "Do you think meeting them now is a good idea?"

"Lord Emiya!" Ravel urged me again. "Please! We can't leave Brother waiting." I raised an eyebrow at the back of the blonde. Either she respect her brother a great deal or she's a brocon... With a Maou siscon around, I couldn't actually dismiss that as impossible.

"I'm coming." I sighed again. "If you are in such a hurry, why don't you ask Asia to invite them in? Or one of the girls who lived with me? They are still keyed to the field of the house." Come to think of it, I have to remove that at some point. "They are already at home aren't they?" I asked Akeno.

"Oh!" The blonde jumped in place and darted in the direction of the house without turning back.

I watched her go for a few moments, before turning to the brunette. "Have you ever seen her so excited about something?"

Akeno begun to giggle. "No. Not really." Then she thought another moment. "Well... Not in relation to her Family anyway..."

I raised a questioning eyebrow at her but she didn't expand on the notion. Shrugging, I went to the house to be greeted with the sight of both Asia and Shinra sitting across from one another, the Nun with her eyes unfocused, while the Queen watched impassive. "Hi."

"Ah! Good afternoon, Emiya-san." Shinra said, giving me a short bob of her head.

"Good afternoon, Onii-chan." Asia greeted, giving me a big smile.

Good thing I didn't had time to process that reaction quickly enough, because from the dorm appeared the other three blondes that were waiting for me. Ravel in front, with Lord Phenex and another man, Ruval probably, just behind him. "Ah, Lord Emiya. Good afternoon." The older of the trio greeted me. "Oh, and Rias and Sona too. Forgive me, I wasn't expecting to see you both here."

"Hello." I said to the man. "Lord Phenex." Then I turned to the new face. "Ruval Phenex, I presume?"

The man was identical to Riser, only a few years older. Blonde hair, cropped just above his shoulder lenght, dark blue eyes, and wearing a red and black outfit that I could only surmise as noble clothing from the victorian era. "Good afternoon, Lord Emiya." He offered his hand and I took it in a shake of hands before directing them to sit. Thankfully, Shinra moved to stand behind Shitori, and Asia went to the kitchen with Akeno.

I directed both Phenex to the other couch, and Ravel too stood at attention behind them. Her face flushed and her eyes shinning. It was disconcerting to see. Before I could even get a word in edgewise, Akeno and Asia came from the kitchen carrying trays.

"Okay..." I said, sitting myself on the one seater while both girl served tea for myself and the four Devils. "So, Lord Phenex, what can I do for you?"

He cleared his throat, then he turned from the amicable way he had been conversing with us to a more somber tone. "First and foremost, I want to thank you for helping not only Ravel, but also everyone on her Peerage. I heard that the training exercises that you run with them also improved their overall ability and their unity, and also helped Ravel gain some confidence in herself." The girl in question blushed even redder at this point.

"I'm sensing a but coming..." I said carefully. Asia had finished serving the tea to everyone and was now standing behind Rias, beside Akeno.

"Yes, unfortunately." He answered while grimacing, then his son picked up.

"We finally managed to discover who was the one who put the wrong ideas on my Brother's mind about how he should handle his Peerage, and we are seeking retribution from him as we speak, but unfortunately we're having problems with that." He said, taking a sip of the tea the girls prepared. "But that is a internal problem with the Phenex Clan and is outside the scope of this meeting. What we came here to do was ask of you to duel my Brother once again."

That surprised me. "What? Why?"

"You see, the last time you two fought-" Lord Phenex began but I raised a hand to interrupt him.

"I'm sorry, but that time it wasn't a fight." I looked at him with all the seriousness I could. "That was a chastisement."

He stopped and grimaced, but relented and continued. "Very well, after the last time you two crossed paths, he wasn't in his right mind for the reasons Ruval said earlier. But he's a proud individual and wanted to come here and ask for a real duel with you, now that he feels that his pride has been tarnished."

I narrowed my eyes. "And what happens should he lose again?"

"I don't think you understand, Lord Emiya." Ruval pulled my attention back to him. "What Riser wants isn't to win against you. What he wants is to have a fair fight that'll restore his pride. That... chastisement... you applied to him... It grated him greatly."

I shook my head. Chivalry. It's a beatiful sentiment, but it has no place on the battlefield, unless you can exploit it. How many times have I said that to the group of people that train with me again? I sat back against the couch. "I'll be honest with you two. I don't want to fight. I don't like to fight. I only fight when there are innocents that need to be protected or to defend myself." Then narrowed my eyes. "And in those cases, I don't fight. I kill."

I delivered the line with the same tone I had used during the whole time. I could feel both Asia and Shinra tense a little. "But couldn't you-"

I lifted a hand once again to stall the man. "Not to mention I'm going through some personal problems that I'm not sure would be in the best interest of anyone to be around me right now."

There was a silence for a few moments that I took to taste the tea. Surprisingly it was hot, not cold tea as I thought. How did Asia and Akeno prepared the tea so fast? "Then we have a proposition for you." Ruval said pulling me back from my reverie, back with a smile on his face. "Should you go through with this..." He looked at Lord Phenex who nodded grimly. "We'll gift Llofrudd to you."

My eyes shot up at that. Going by the history of that blade, it has been with the Phenex Clan since its inception, and they want to give away just like that? What are these people thinking? "We know that you have a great affinity for weapons and you recognize the history of this sword with a single glance." Lord Phenex pulled the sword within the scabbard and put on the center table. "I can't think of anyone outside of the Phenex Clan who would treat it with the respect it deserves."

"I don't want it." I said flatly. "Not to mention I don't have anywhere to put it. Leaving an historied blade like that as a display item is worse than just throw it away."

"Well..." He looked unconfortable for another moment. "What would you like to make this happen, Lord Emiya?"

"Nothing. I don't want to fight." I said again with the same flat tone, then sighed and leaned my head back to look at the ceiling. "I don't want to fight." I repeated. There was another silence in the room before I continued. "You have to understand, Lord Phenex. Very few things on my arsenal are non-lethal. Ask them how I train them?" I said signaling both Rias and Shitori. "They leave the sessions in serious need of healing everytime I take the field. Nowadays I rarely, if ever, spar with them, and only do when I restrict the rules severely. The stronger my opponent, the less I can hold back, and they are getting too strong for me."

"Then a Rating Game." Ruval said then. "During a Rating Game you can fight with all your power without problems."

"I can't participate in Rating Games. I'm not a Devil." I answered instantly.

"Actually, that's not true." Shitori said from her position. "You can't participate in official Rating Games, but a friendly match isn't an official Rating Game..."

"And what part of 'I don't want to fight' you aren't understanding?" I asked again.

"Care to explain why, Lord Emiya?" Ruval asked. "From what I'm told you aren't a man to refuse to fight when the cause is noble."

I closed my eyes, grimacing. "Noble cause, huh... I'm sorry but where is the nobility in fighting? In dueling? We're not in the middle ages anymore. Fights to restore honor existed centuries ago and two continents away." Then I looked back at them again. "Do you know how a Samurai would go about restoring his honor here in Japan? They commited seppuku, a ritual suicide. From what I understand, the Devil society draws more from the Western Culture than from the Japanese culture" Though it could be that Western Culture draws from Devil Culture, now that I think about it, but that isn't pertinent at the moment. "so I can understand what you two meant with restoring honor in a duel that he gives his all."

"Then..." The Phenex Heir began, but I interrupted.

"I'm not a Devil. I'm human. One that has been screwed over by fate several times over, but still human."

There was another lull in the conversation, until Lord Phenex gave a deep sigh, looking behind the couch he was sitting and grimacing once. "Then I have another proposition for you."

"I seriously doubt anything you say can change my mind, Lord Phenex." I said reaching for my tea cup.

"If you have this duel with Riser and win, then you can add Ravel as another wife for the Emiya Clan." I froze mid-motion. The room itself fell into a silence so quiet that I could hear the crickets out on the yard.

Then it exploded with both Akeno and Ravel exclaiming simultaneously. "What!?"

For my part, I simply watched the older man with confusion until I had to ask. "Sorry. Care to repeat that again? I don't think I heard you clearly the first time."

"You can add Ravel as another wife for yourself." He said again, grimacing, like the proposition itself tasted bad in his mouth. Why had he proposed that in the first place if he didn't want to?

"Yeah, I thought you said that, but had to make sure. Why do you think I have any other wives in the first place to want add another?" I asked looking at him, but was actually talking to myself. "First Marchosias, now this?" I turned to Shitori who too was looking disbelievingly at the other High-Class Devil. "You did squash those ridiculous rumors, right?"

"Yes. We debunked all those rumors." The woman said, scrunching her eyebrows, confused. Then paled going wide eyed. "Oh, no..."

"What?" I asked, but apparently both Rias and Akeno made the same connection as the bespectacled girl and started giggling, so I turned to them. "Care to explain the joke?"

Another burst of laughter from the two was the only answer I received. I was about to tune them out and try to straighten up things with the other two men when Shitori continued. "You were slated to appear on Nee-sama's show." She said almost whispering.

My eyes widened as I began to process that. "Okay... I remember that..." Then I remembered what the _plot_ of the show did to the character based around me. I turned slowly to both male Devils who were apparently bewildered by the reactions. "Don't tell me that you two believed what appeared on a TV show? A fiction show too. A fiction show with a Magical Girl to boot." Even if she's a Maou, I couldn't actually believe that Levia-tan was so popular as to draw even adults into watching her show.

Lord Phenex knit his brows. "Well, it said it was based on real facts... So, since you live with the exact same number of girls..." Then adjusted his cuffs. "Of course, I know that it couldn't be all twenty that were your wives since you wouldn't let Ravel take them from you if that was the case but... There are at least two or three of them, right?"

I looked at him dumbfounded for a moment, then looked at the others in the room. Akeno couldn't stop giggling, and Rias kept laughing out loud. Asia was still gaping and Ravel was blushing furiously. Shitori and Shinra were the only completely stoic ones, but even then the Queen had a small tinge of pink on her cheeks. "Okay. First things first. No, I don't have wives. I don't have a single one. Whatever that show said about me, is completely wrong."

"But-"

"It's wrong..." I rubbed my face with both hands, closing my eyes with movement. "So no, I don't have any interest into adding a wife to my imaginary harem..." Seriously, I'm not Ise.

There was another silence during which both males kept looking at each other, until Ruval decided to speak again.

"Please, Lord Emiya." He began. "My little brother is truly repentant for the problems he caused and wants to make amends, but has been depressed about this whole situation ever since we managed to clear him from the problems he was involved in."

I looked at them for a moment more. Then at the blonde who was all excited earlier, but now was wide eyed and paling. "Ravel, do me a favor and call Margareth, Astrid and Giselle, please?"

The blonde's head snapped in my direction for a moment, before she gave a stuttered nod and walked in the direction of the hallway and the dorm. "May I ask why you want to talk with these three?" Lord Phenex asked.

"They are my only Pieces." I answered them and their eyes widened. Maybe that weren't so well informed of my Trades as I thought. "And I refuse to place them on a battlefield without consulting with them first."

"It's just a Rating Game, Lord Emiya." Ruval said.

"I already told you. I don't fight. Every battle that isn't training is a battle of life and death. It's how I trained them. It's the mindset I always go to a battlefield. A Rating Game..." I shook my head. "A Rating Game may be a sport for most Devils, but they seem to have forgotten their true nature. What was the real reasons to have been created. I can't say the same about the Brave Saints because I haven't heard of anything similar from Heaven, but from my understanding the Rating Games were supposed to train the Devils for War. A War is something I'm familiar with. A battle just for the battle itself isn't something I like or condone. I've seen too many people die to see a battle any other way. Furthermore, there are things happening that I'm not sure would be pleasant to anyone be around if they happen to me again." I turned to the other two teenaged High-Class Devils. "Tell them what happened in the workshop."

The apparent change of subject made the older Devil eyes turn to the other two. Rias had stopped laughing and Shitori was grimacing. "You almost killed Rias."

"And..." I prompted, sitting back again.

"And started to shout at her." She continued.

At that moment the three girls appeared from the corridor. "You called us, Shirou-sama?" Giselle asked.

"Yes, I did." I explained the situation to them. "I'll let you guys decide."

"Does that mean Ravel will be your new Piece?" Astrid asked.

"No. That was a misconception on their part. There's nothing for us in this battle. I refuse to accept anything for it. I actually don't want to fight, but I'm leaving my decision for you three. Whatever you decide, I'll do it."

The three looked between themselves and to the trio of the Phenex Clan, before settling their eyes on Ravel for a few moments. I don't know what kind of face the Devil was making, because my attention was on the trio. The three looked between themselves one more time, before nodding and turning back to me. "I think is a good idea, Shirou-sama." Margareth said. "I mean, we are only four now..."

"And if we go along with this, it'll be one less thing for you to worry about." Giselle piped.

"And these kinds of duels of honor are common in the Underworld, so if we ever get new Kings, it would be a good practice for us." The Bishop finished.

I sighed. Great. Now I'm stuck. I turned to the two male Devils. "Be glad that the girls seem eager to accept." I seriously thought that they wouldn't want to fight.

Both men looked at each other, some kind of silent conversation going between the two. "Very well."

"Alright then. When?" I asked.

"Immediately, if possible." The younger male Devil said. "We have a training ground already set up on the Phenex Clan's property that is used by myself and my brothers. There's no problem with using it. We could also take advantage of the fact that there are two representants here from unrelated Clans that can serve as witnessess." He then turned to them. "If you two don't mind, of course."

Rias frowned, but Shitori answered. "Only if I can take my entire Peerage to watch the game." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yes, of course. Of course." The man reassured her immediately.

"Then I want to call my Peerage, as well." Rias added to which the man nodded.

"What are you guys thinking?" I asked them.

"It's a good oportunity for them to see others competing in a Rating Game live. It's different than watching on a screen, and since the Youth Devil Gathering is close, its a good oportunity for us." The Sitri Heiress said, adjusting her glasses with a smirk.

"Not to mention its rare to be able to see you fight without holding back in a setting that isn't a life and death situation." Rias added. "And we can monitor you in case you have another... episode."

I sighed, turning to Akeno for some support. I expected her at least to say something but she didn't made any mention, only showing a fake smile at her King. It was then that I realized that since it was something Rias had decided, she couldn't go against it.

Why can't I have a break?

* * *

The layout of the training ground was fairly typical as far as arenas for Rating Games go that I watched on tape so far. It had two hills, one on each side of the map, and a fort on each hill. Those were the starting positions for both participants. A river in the middle divided both territories and the single dirt road that connected them had a wooden bridge over it. Both sides of the dirt road there was forest until the end of the map. Only the hills themselves didn't have any greenery, just rock formations that could be free climbed easily. Well, since Devils had wings, that kind of thing wouldn't be a problem in the first place.

At the moment, both our Peerages were standing on the teleportation circles moments before the Rating Game would start. I almost didn't recognize Riser when he came to talk with me. He had cropped his hair close to his head, almost a buzzcut but not quite there, and didn't had the arrogance from our other meetings. Earlier he had bowed in apology to me and then to the four girls that were once part of his Peerage, only lamenting that neither Lirnianna and Nirlianna weren't there.

His reasons for this battle were flimsy at best. What would it accomplish in the end? I mean, they had to know that I killed a Fallen Angel older than even Lord Phenex himself, not to mention the battles during the Peace Conference. I said time and again that I didn't want to fight, but they were trying to get me to fight anyway.

"Why?" I asked the blonde in front of me, moments before the teleportation would kick in. "Why fight a pointless battle? Neither you, nor your Clan has anything to gain by doing this, so why? I can't understand."

He looked at me, and I thought that he was going to sneer at me, say something about confidence, or about Pride as a Devil. Anything but what he actually said. "I've been thinking a lot since everything happened. Since our... last meeting." He held his six Pieces that were tampered before. "These are the six Pieces they had. I'll never use them again, on anyone. Will it make me easier to beat? Probably, but I'll not regret it. That's my symbol to them. I wronged them and the Phenex Clan, and this is my penitence."

He looked over his own Peerage, before turning back to me once again.

"I don't know how many times I thought about that Rating Game, and what should I have done differently to win it. I know you were the one who devised Rias strategy, and you were the one who trained them. Both her Knight and Rook were amazingly ruthless, the misdirection her Pawn and Bishop used, her Queen and herself were formidable as oponents, but I had thought that it didn't matter. That even if my Peerage was defeated, there was no way I would be, because I'm a Phenex." He smiled down, derisively. "And then when I attacked you after the whole thing... I can't get it out of my mind. How could a human be strong enough to beat me... a Phenex."

I was about to call him out on it, but he continued.

"I heeded Rias advice at the end of the Rating Game. I listened to the Elders of the Clan. I read the books about humanity." He shook his head once more. "I always thought that humans were cattle, just something to amuse ourselves with... That was wrong. Humans are... frightening, powerful and beatiful all at the same time. A single human is weak in comparison to a single Devil. Hell, hundreds of humans are weak in comparison to a Devil. But, and this was a question the Elders posed me, how come humans still prosper in this world when there are so many beings like us, Devils, Angels, Fallen, Youkai, Gods and Demigods? The answer is simple and at the same time is not. They are weak, but they have potential to always be something more, even when they are already at what should be their peak, they can still strive for even more. If they climb a mountain, they still want to climb the tree on top of the mountain. If they fight insurmountable odds, they simple invent new ways to circumvent the odds. Its how human heroes are born. Humans embody that potential, and they can't be killed completely."

He sighed looking up at the timer running down for the beginning of the Rating Game.

"There were two times in the history of mankind that someone tried to destroy humanity. The first was the Ice Age and the second was the Deluge. Both times, man managed to survive. Humans are like cockroaches, not exactly flattering a comparison, but apt at the same time. Humans adapt, fight and survive better than any other species. Even Devils. That's the reason humans dominate the world. We can only watch over them, and hope they don't come after us. Through the meddling of some parts of our supernatural society, humans are able to fight on equal grounds with the supernatural world. All the while being weak. And that's why I want to fight with you. You acknowledge that you are weak, that you are human. You are proud to _be_ human, but even then you fight against beings like me, like the Fallen. I want to be able to hold my head high and say that I fought against a human, a being that while weak, is able to produce some of the most formidable fighters in history."

I didn't have time to answer him, because the teleportation kicked in and I was standing inside of what appeared to be a war room inside the fort. Margareth and Giselle immediately started moving in the direction of the entrances, while Astrid started pouring over the map in the middle of the room.

Riser's speech had me stunned. He did not only made a hundred and eighty degree turn in his views about humanity, but seemed to actually have fallen in love with it. Worse, I couldn't detect a single hint of falsehood on his words, either on his body language or in his tone of voice. He really did want to pit himself against a human who he deemed to be a worthy oponent and could actually fight back against him.

I sighed, looking over the other hill through the window. Reinforcing my eyes I could see that at least three black dots were flying over the treeline in our direction already. He must have thought that sending someone to attack immediately was the best solution, since he knew I could destroy his fort with him inside it, if I wanted to.

I could actually let it go, let this battle play out as a normal Rating Game, battle my way through his forces and then confront him at the end, like they intended for me to do in the first place. But in all his speech, he missed something still. He talked about only humanity, only about mankind. After so many years living with people that couldn't be rightfully called humans anymore, like a certain Dead Apostle who was the Wizard Marshall, or a old man who, in trying to find a way to immortality, defiled the body of a young girl, and even more here, living in this world, were the definitions were even more clear about who was what... Angel, Fallen, Devil, Youkai, God, Kami... The thing that Riser missed wasn't that it was humans that still strived, but sentient life. In all forms. Be it natural or supernatural, life always finds a way.

In all of that spiel, he didn't once acknowledged the fact that his family tried to wager the life of their youngest. If he had at least once said that he would win in order to recapture his honor and save his sister from me, then I would have been more moved by his words. But no... What he didn't say ended up saying even more about him than what he expected. He was still thinking to be above someone else, instead of looking at the others as equals, as living beings, as people.

He would still endanger innocents if the chance for him to win presented itself. Maybe not consciously, but he still had a ways to go before I could treat him with the same way I could treat others that already shown me that they had the capacity to empathy. So I took a deep breath and walked out of the room I was in. A King in a Rating Game should be protected. That's basic strategy. Once the King is out, the Game is basically over.

But what happens when the King himself is the one who protects? What happens when the King takes the field early? I made two hand signs for both Margareth and Giselle, before jumping on top of the wall that circled the fort, tracing Archer's bow.

In my off hand I traced a spear, one of the weapons that I shouldn't possess. One that I shouldn't be able to trace, that I hadn't seen it myself. I altered the dark spiked spear into an arrow and notched into the bow. I didn't even need to aim with it, but I did anyway. "Split the Heavens and connect the land, Anchor of the Storm." I chanted and a tornado began to form at the tip of the arrow-spear as soon as I released it.

This spear was used by a counterpart of Saber, Arturia, in one of the legends were she had been known to use Rhongomyniad instead of Excalibur in another world. A world were she had been summoned as Lancer instead of Saber. It was regarded as having the same light as the Longinus Spear that killed the Messiah, and she used in her final battle against Mordred. Conceptually, its a pillar of light that fastens together the outer layer of reality, keeping the reverse side, the illusion, separate from the world. Since it has that property, to bend reality, it can also create a rift in space and time that destroy everything in its path, when called as I did.

Two seconds after I fired the arrow there was nothing but bare land in front of me. Reality itself had been destroyed and recreated in a instant. Everyone who was in that battlefield should be rightly dead, if their teleportations didn't kick in time. The announcer was saying all the names of the people who retired from the battle, leaving only Riser still alive in the middle of the nothingness that was his side of the field. Only a wasteland was still there. I looked at my two Pieces and nodded.

They both took off in the air, carrying me with them, Astrid following close behind, in the direction of where the oposite hill had been. I almost feel sorry for both Shitori and Rias. They wanted their Peerages to watch a Rating Game live, but I only showed them what happens when someone tries to play with the lives of unrelated people in my presence.

Thirty seconds later, the girls deposited me on the ground, a few feet away from Riser, who was down on the ground, laughing like a madman. "Yes. This is what I expected. This is what humanity has to offer. This is what actually defeated me." In his rant, some of his motivations seemed to slip by, but he paid no heed.

"Would you resign now, Riser?" I asked his dispassionately. "This isn't a Rating Game... And I really don't want to kill you over a stupid reason like pride."

He finally stopped laughing and looked at me like a kid looking at Santa Claus. "You think you can do that?"

I was taken aback by the reaction. I expected him to deny me, say anything different, but there was actual glee in his eyes. "Yeah. I can."

"Then let's get started!" He said, jumping backwards and lobing a ball of fire in my direction. I didn't even need to move, as Margareth appeared in front of me and Astrid raised a protective shield in front of all of us that deflected the attack. But what made me frown was the way he was acting, like his death was what he wanted all along, but he wasn't actually a suicidal. It was... weird to say the least.

"Girls," I began, patting them on their shoulders. "Let me handle this." I walked past them and they took three steps back.

"Yes. That's how it should have been from the start. You and me, without all this." He said with a maniacal grin spliting in his face.

I sighed. "You know, I don't even care anymore." I traced the bow and another sword in my hand.

"Yes. Even if I die, I'll be reborn like the Phoenix. It doesn't matter."

That made me pause. "You think you'll return from the ashes... Is that it?"

"Yes. I'm a blessed of the Phoenix after all. It runs in my blood." Worse was that he wasn't boasting about it, just stating something like it was a fact. "Even if I lose to you, I'll return again..."

"Tell me, what would you do if you couldn't return anymore?" I asked him, dismissing both the bow and the sword I had already traced. "Or worse, couldn't die at all?"

"That's impossible. The moment this body dies, I'll return to the ashes and be reborn again. Simple as that. Remember the Warrior who fought using Llofrudd? He did kill the Phoenix, but not permanently. The Elders told me that it disappeared much later, after gifting our Clan with that blade."

I lowered my head, exhaling heavily while shaking it. Without any warning, seven Black Keys pincushioned him. "You know, what Rias said before, during the Rating Game, is still valid. There's nothing that can't be killed, or made to wish to be able to be killed. Do you know the story of Prometheus? If it wasn't for Heracles killing that eagle, he would have to suffer forever having his liver being eaten by day then regenerated by night." I Traced a dagger in my left hand. It had a wodden handle and a curved blade, almost like a janbiya, but not quite there. The blade itself had a golden glow to it. "This is Aetósh. When the eagle failed in its duty to forever eat Prometheus liver, it begged Zeus for help in order to continue its duty. Zeus broke the beak of the eagle and gave it to Hephaestus to be forged into a weapon." I took three steps closer to the man who was looking transfixed at the dagger. "The other name this dagger has is Mercy Without Mercy. It saps the strength of anything stabbed by it, bit by bit, until they are at death's door, then stops until whatever was stabbed with it regains a portion of its strength back, only to repeat the proccess." I looked at it another moment. "I imagine that it is quite a painful process, that is able to break the mind even of the more strong willed prisioner. This little dagger isn't a weapon, but a torture instrument. It was designed to never be able to kill, but it can maintain anyone at deaths door indefinetely."

I grabbed one of the Black Keys that was stuck on his thigh and pulled it free. The moment I did, a burst of flames appeared on the same place, healing him perfectly.

"Now imagine..." I stuck Aetósh on his thigh again, and he howled in pain. "Imagine what would happen if you got stuck with these?" I showed him the other four daggers I had traced. They weren't the same Aetósh, just similar enough to fool an unexperienced eye. "The pain you're suffering right now, multiplied by as many copies of this dagger as I can make." I said, looking at him in the eye. "And just so you know, there are ways to kill an immortal, permanently. Either by stealing his Soul, " A Mystic Code appeared beside me that looked like a bastardized copy of the Jeweled Sword Zelretch. "destroying it's Soul altogheter," A two handed axe appeared on my right. "removing the Soul from the cycle of Reincarnation," Another sword appeared. "or simply destroying the very existence of anyone who's hit with it." A Scythe appeared on my left hand. This was Harpe, the Immortal Slaying Scythe, given to Perseus by Hermes in his quest to slay the Medusa.

"I-I-I-..." He began eyeing all the swords, while his hand was trying to move in the direction of the dagger on his thigh.

"Now, choose your fate, Riser Phenex." I said, taking a step back. "Before one these choose for you."

"I-I-I resign." He said, disappearing in a flash of golden light, making the Black Keys and the dagger clang on the ground where he had been.

"Good choice." I muttered, before turning back to the girls who were watching the whole display with wide eyes. Actually, they were watching the weapons that were still hovering around me. I chuckled and dismissed them and in a flash of golden light we reappeared on the same teleport circles we were before the beginning of the match.

"Lord Emiya, that was quite a display you showed us." Lord Phenex began praising me, but I scowled at him.

"Lord Phenex, I have spared your son twice now." My scowl deepened. "There won't be a third time." He stuttered on his step he was taking in my direction, disconcerted with the fierceness on my voice.

Another moment, and the man put both hands behind his back, straightning himself. "Very well. Thank you for your leniency over the errors I comitted during our discussion earlier." Another moment and the man chuckled. "I admit that after my outburst I felt that I had comitted a grave error in using my youngest as a wager in my deal with you, but now I see that that fear was unfounded. You truly are a man to be admired and feared, Lord Emiya."

I sighed looking at where Asia was coming in our direction, running full tilt. "None of that, Lord Phenex. Just someone who hadn't had the time to process all the problems that I still have to solve. Now, if there isn't anything else, I would like to go home, if possible."

After saying our goodbyes, Ruval Phenex made a point of transporting us to my courtyard himself, and shortly after he gave Ravel a hug, which made the blonde girl look wide eyed at him. When asked what he was doing, he simply shrugged, saying that he was relieved that he could still spoil his little sister for now.

I chuckled and went to the house.

After everything that happened, I was tired.

* * *

After the fiasco that was Sports Day, even with the incredible win for the White Team, mostly because both the Red and Blue Teams kept undermining each other instead of competing for first place, and the whole debacle with the Phenex Clan and my fears with the memories coming out of nowhere, I had been invited to the Underworld because of something to do with the Norse Pantheon. Apparently they would sign a treaty with the three Christian Factions, and would bring Valhalla into the fold. I didn't understand why I had been invited but apparently Odin himself wanted me to come. Since it would be on the Underworld, I thought that I could talk to Ajuka about the problem, without making apparent and use his expertise to try and solve it for me. So here I was, inside a room of the Gremory Mansion being prepared to a meeting that I had no idea it would even take place in the first place.

But to be honest with myself, I was kind of looking forward to meet the supreme God of the Norse Mythology. I mean, several of my weapons are told to have belonged to him at one point or another and even some other Noble Phantasms' legends talk about Odin.

Being prepared is the right sentence too, since the servants don't let me do anything ever since I set foot inside the Mansion. The girls were guided to a different room to change into evening gowns, since apparently it was a gala that would take place. Only after I was already wearing the tux they had prepared for me, was that my escorts appeared in the form of Shinra and Shitori, who would guide me to the hall where the party would be held.

"So..." All the other girls had already gone to the hall and I am not ashamed to say that I would get lost inside the place. Its freakishly huge and they didn't let me scout- er, I mean, take a stroll around earlier. I knew Devils were an aristocratic bunch, and I saw what Rias did to Ise's house, but this is ridiculous. I mean, it's bigger than Kuoh Academy as a whole. "Why am I here?" I had asked that same question over and over already.

"Well," Shinra half turned to answer. "apparently Odin himself asked to be introduced to the human who managed to defend the signing of the Peace Treaty."

Shitori nodded. "And my sister wanted to talk with you, as well."

I let out a long suffering sigh. Just thinking about what Levia-tan would do was enough to give me a headache. "Why couldn't Odin come to visit me at my house, like almost every single other Maou and Archangel?"

Shitori adjusted her glasses. "He's the Greater God of the Norse Mythology, the leader of Valhalla. One would think that he has little time to waste about things that aren't a matter of importance. His wish to meet you was probably more of whim than anything else. Since you have more contact with us than with any other supernatural faction, he asked for Lucifer-sama to invite you here as well, since it would lessen the burden on Bifröst."

"Bifröst?" I asked confused then realized what she meant. Bifröst was for Valhalla basically the same thing as the Underworld train, which still made me completely befuddled. I mean, it's a literal train to hell. It was the only connection to the Underworld that wasn't by teleportation. "Oh, right. Anyway, let's get this over with."

The words had barely left my mouth when I entered the main hall and was greeted by the familiar Asia shaped bullet. "Onii-chan, Onii-chan, Onii-chan! Guess what, guess what!" My eyes bugged out. It was rare to see Asia so hyper. I could also peripherally see that all the ex-Holy Maidens around the room were in high spirits too.

"What?" I asked her, mildly unnerved by the former Sister.

"Archangel Michael said that we can pray to God now without receiving the retribution." It was either a trick of the lighting inside the place or her eyes were literally shinning. With the way she was acting I was inclined to think it was the latter. Then the meaning of the words kicked in.

"Oh." I lifted a hand to pat her head. "Congratulations." I knew how much it pained her that she couldn't do her little praying rituals. Well, it was not that she couldn't do them, but more that she would do them anyway and receive the retribution and soldier on afterwards.

"Hn." She said, nodding in my chest. Only then I lifted my head to look at the other people in the room. Well, room was an understatement. The hall was huge, with a raised stage in the center of the back wall where Levia-tan and Lucifer were, along with Azazel, Ajuka and another man that I think it was Asmodeus but I wasn't sure.

One of the things that I discovered in my short stay here was that Sirzechs Lucifer, the stronger of the Maous, if the stories were to be believed, shared with Levia-tan another trait that shouldn't be advertised. He was a siscon too. Even more creepy in his case because the man was married. Thankfully the man didn't come to talk to me at any point. I'm not sure how I would react to him with that knowledge in mind.

The rest of the people were in groups spread throughout the hall, but there were some notable absences in the room. Namely Rias, Ise and Koneko. It was weird because I could see the rest of the redhead's Peerage around a table, wearing the Kuoh Academy uniform for some reason that I could not discern. They forced me to wear a tuxedo, so the reason behind the others wearing the uniform was escaping me.

When I scanned the room again I had to take that back. I wasn't the only not wearing an uniform. Akeno wasn't also. For some reason she was wearing a formal black yukata with white inlining and orange accents, the same color of the ribbon she used on her hair. I think beautiful wouldn't be a word strong enough to describe her at the moment, though it was marred somewhat by her pained demeanor. I looked down at the excitable blonde who still hasn't let go of me when she asked. "Onii-chan, have you seen Buchou-san and Issei-san?"

I frowned. "No. Have they not come yet?" I looked over the others and they all looked back at me, confused. I turned to look at Shitori but apparently having already finished her escort mission, she was moving with Shinra to a table where the rest of her Peerage was gathered around. They too weren't wearing evening gowns, with the exception of the King and Queen.

I scanned the crowd once more and that was when I saw Akeno turn away from the stage, the pain in her expression even worse now. I frowned and began to move. Asia let go of me when she felt me move, but didn't left my side. When I was about to ask Akeno what was wrong I felt a wave of killing intent coming from the stage at the end of the hall, but when I looked over there I couldn't make out anyone looking my way. A new group of people had just arrived, an old man with white hair and beard that reached down to his ankles, wearing a blue and white tunic and a hat that I could only describe as a layered cake before frosting. With him were a woman with white silver hair wearing a silver blue business suit and another black bearded man wearing a dark gray cape over a black armor. Looking more closely, that was one of Azazel's escorts during the Peace Conference, but with so many different signatures in the room, I was overloaded and couldn't actually define who was what anymore.

The old man was probably Odin, and the other two his bodyguards, but right now I had more pressing concerns. "What's wrong?" I asked the brunette when I got close enough to her.

"Hmm?" She finally realized that I was in front of her, despite the fact that she had been turned in my direction and I was walking towards her. "Ah, Shirou." She smiled at me, but I could see she was forcing herself. "Nothing, just that-"

She was cut off when out of nowhere we saw a bright light coming from the stage and turned to it. For some reason that I don't want to even try to discern, Levia-tan had just changed her business suit to her magical girl get up. They traded a few words and out of nowhere the silver haired woman began to cry her heart out. In front of everyone. I think I spoke for everyone when I said. "What the...?"

The old man said something else and then the whole thing was sidetracked as Archangel Michael made his appearance from a doorway behind the crying woman who continued kneeling down on the floor. Shidou was accompanying him.

I shook my head at the display, then turned back to the brunette. "So, what happened?"

She looked at me again and then shook her head slowly. "Nothing. It's not important anymore." She said giving me a more genuine smile, before coming closer and taking my free right arm, because Asia had taken over the left, but as soon as she did the blonde let go and walked over to the table with the rest of ex-Holy Maidens. I could feel their excitement. Again I felt a wave of killing intent coming from the end of the hall, but this time decided to ignore it.

I looked down at the Shrine Maiden and nodded. "Alright, if you say so." I was still worried about her, but I'll let her talk to me in her own time. I moved to a table and began talking with the other girls, Kiba and Gasper.

After a few minutes, Lucifer called for attention from the raised platform. "After centuries of conflict, the Devils, Angels and Fallen Angels, having reflected on the mistakes of the past, signed a Peace Treaty. But there are those who still want war. With that in mind, this offer for an alliance our assembly has received from the Norse Pantheon is truly heartening." He turned to the old man behind him. "Odin, if you have no objections, please sign the pact monument."

The old man stroke his beard once but, if he answered in any form, I couldn't hear from my position. He moved to the monument in the center of the stage, but the moment he put a hand over the stone, a booming voice resounded inside the hall. "I have an objection!" The old man turned just his head looking at the back of the hall. I followed his line of sight only to see a Sigil appear in midair. The Sigil opened as if it were a double door and from the other side a man with long silver hair, a triple jewel on the forehead and wearing a white coat floated out. "I am one of the Norse Gods, Loki."

I immediately interposed myself in front of the group, pulling Akeno behind me. Loki was the God of Treachery and Lies in my world. He was shapeshifter that had been said to use his ability to prank both the Gods and the Mortals in the Norse Mythology. Some said that he was just a prankster while others thought that he was a malicious God with a bone to pick with Odin. It seems that in this world the latter is true.

"Loki-dono. Even though you are a Norse God, you have no right to cause havoc in here." Lucifer's voice came from behind me and I began to call several blueprints on my mind, just in case. I still have no idea what was that he wanted.

"Seeing our great Father mingling with other mythologies brings me intolerable pain." The floating God spat out. So far he hadn't looked in my direction, so I was using hand signs to direct the girls to more advantageous positions in the hall. Ravel was the first to realize that I was doing that and began to move her Peerage, while Shitori kept looking up. Akeno was supposed to do the same for Rias' Peerage since she wasn't here, but the brunette didn't do anything. I took control and began to direct Kiba, Quarta and Gasper, since Asia and Solveiga had defaulted to follow my lead from the beginning.

"Loki. If you return to Valhalla immediately, I'll forgive this slight." Odin answered the other Norse God, while the silver haired woman moved to interpose herself in between the two.

The Devil's security started to move at this point, four of them using halberds moved in front of Loki. "Forgive me? Don't joke around, geezer." The floating man didn't even pay attention to the four Devils, which left me with time to silently continue organizing the evacuation of the Hall. If Gods were to throw down right now, this place wouldn't remain in one piece for long.

"How dare you speak to our Great Father that way!" The woman took a step forward and stared up at the floating god.

"If he allies us with other mythologies, we won't be able to achieve Ragnarok." The man said as if the end of the world in the Norse Mythology was something to strive for, not prevent.

"I think I heard about this before, haven't I?" Azazel had come down from the dais and was walking in the direction of the Norse God. "You're part of the Khaos Brigade, aren't you?"

"I'll admit to have used their services, but just that." Loki answered and his look turned harder. "This is from my own will!" He waved his arm to the side and declared. "Come forth, my beloved son!"

Another Sigil appeared behind him, that was enveloped in lightning for a moment, and I used that as my cue. "Now!" I called and all the girls began to move the noncombatants out of the hall, pulling the shocked bystanders and even some of the Devils who should be able to fight back with them.

When the light died down, a massive beast that was a cross between mammoth and wolf appeared on the Hall. I narrowed my eyes at it. He called it his son, so if it was on my own world, this should be Fenrir. It was the only one that loosely fit the description. It let out a roar that shook the whole hall and Loki snapped his fingers. The wolf-mammoth-thing jumped and collided with the ceiling, sending debris down on the onlookers that still hadn't been evacuated.

Akeno was faster than me and used her Holy Lightining to destroy the debris. The wolf-like thing was about to turn to Akeno when I jumped from my position into its back, tracing Rider's chainlinked daggers around its mouth and mounted the beast, using the chain as an impromptu bridle, grabbing its attention. "Let's play!" I said eyeing the Norse God.

"Shirou!" I heard the brunette call, but it was too late.

"Fool. What is a human doing here?" Loki looked down at me at the same time wolf tried to get me off its back. The Norse God pointed at me and a stream of fire shot from his side in my direction. "No matter. You'll die along with everyone else."

"Svalinn!" I called and was pleased to see the white haired God taken aback. Peripherally I could see that the girls were able to remove everyone else from the hall and for some reason the black bearded man was standing protectively in front of Akeno.

"What?!" Loki narrowed his eyes at me and I was about to call another Noble Phantasm when I felt a burst of Prana from the stage. A Sigil appeared at Loki's and the wolf's feet and a pyramid of energy appeared a moment later trapping both of them into it. Problem was, I was still on the back of the wolf-like thing.

"Shirou!" I heard the anguished cry from Akeno, followed by a chorus of 'Shirou-sama' from the other girls.

"You're full of openings." I heard Ajuka's voice. Whatever this thing was, it was pulling me down with its pressure, and I had to Reinforce my legs just to be able to keep upright on the back of this beast.

"Beelzebub?!" Loki's disbelief was everything I needed to hear to know that whatever Ajuka had done it caught him too. A moment later we three were transported away from the Hall.

I have no idea where we were, but I was still trapped inside a seal with a giant wolf-like thing and Loki. That couldn't be good.

"Beelzebub, playing such petty tricks." He frowned analyzing his surroundings. "A seal where time runs faster than outside. That will give him time to create a strategy against me. No matter." Loki said and snapped his fingers again. Fenrir disappeared and instantly I fell down in a crouch, using a hand to steady myself and the other arm outstretched to the side, ready to Trace anything that would be needed. I was alone inside this space with a megalomaniacal god hell bent in destroying the world, after all. "Hoh. It seems Beelzebub made one miscalculation." He looked at me with a disdain that was almost palpable. "Oh yes. Now I remember. You're the human Magician that killed Kokabiel and more than half of the Hero Faction. I'll have to make CaoCao pay me extra for getting rid of you." He said floating down to ground, about a fifty feet away from me.

He lifted both his arms up and a stream of white light shot from a sigil that formed in his hands, directly at me. This place was too small for me to be able to dodge. "Rho Aias!" I called again and to my horror, it pierced six of the layers of the conceptual shield in a instant. I jumped to the side, but it was enough to create a gauge on the ground.

"You're going to be a good warm up. Once I get rid of this seal, Ragnarok will begin and all will die." He began to laugh. "You'll be the first sacrifice to demark the beginning of the end."

What can I do. This is so out of my league its not even funny. I doubt he'll leave me enough time to charge any of my Noble Phantasms. He lifted his hand again and another stream of energy, stronger than before began to barrel in my direction. Time slowed to a crawl at that moment. No way Aias will be able to block this. Rho Aias is one my strongest shields, but is only a perfect defense against projectile attacks. Would Ignis Heart even work against a Divine spell? I had no idea. It was never used as such in the memories I had of it, and gleaning over the history of the sword it was never used in such a way. Svalinn wouldn't hold against it as well. I could try Avalon, but I have no idea if it'll work or not. I think it worked against the Dragon because I was protecting others... Protecting...

Protection! That's it!

It's a gamble. I hope it works for me how I would envision it to. I formed a blade in my hands and put it in front of the stream of energy the God was sending my way. The onslaught didn't stop like before. It kept on going for far more time than I thought it would.

I looked at the handle of the blade I had projected and had nailed it point first on the ground. Durandal. Not the Ultimate Unbroken Hallow, but Quarta's Durandal. It has a special property that depends on the user. The Holy Aura it possess can be harnessed to respond to the user's wishes. In Quarta's case, that aura can be shot as a destructive beam of light. In my case, my innermost wish is protection. I could use its Holy Aura to form shield that can defend against incoming attacks. At least, that was what I was hoping for.

But even its aura wasn't enough to stop the God's attack completely. Bit by bit, the stream of white light began to punch holes through the Aura and nick me on the arms, lower torso, legs, stomach, face, scalp. When it finally ended, I was down on one knee and using the sword to keep me up, while I panted hard against the attack that assaulted me. What do I do? I began to run over my options.

Unlimited Blade Works was an option, but I still haven't summoned my Reality Marble ever since coming to this world. Would it still work?

Nine Lives Blade Works. It hit at godspeed, but he wouldn't let me enough time to prepare it. He wasn't moving in my direction as well, and so far I haven't seen his physical capabilities. He is a God not a Demigod reincarnated like Heracles, so I can only assume that he's stronger physically.

So far he only attacked me with magic. Maybe in this world he doesn't have any physical capabilities, but he's still a God...

A God?! Of course! I began to laugh the moment I realized that. "It seems that you are the same as the other humans." Loki began. "When the mind breaks, you lowly lifeforms either laugh, cry or enter denial."

I continued to laugh, not even responding him, getting up and dismissing the blade. I couldn't believe that it was staring right at me all the time. I closed my eyes and got my snickers under control but when I opened and looked at him again, I couldn't control anymore and another bout of laughter came over me.

He frowned darkly at me. "I don't like the way you're acting, worm. Begone!" He pointed a finger at me.

My laughter died instantly and I stared at him fiercely. "Enkidu!" I called and a chain formed itself around the God, encircling him and tying his arms close to his torso, before nailing both ends of it on the ground. The Chains of Heaven, the most trusted Noble Phantasm of Gilgamesh. This chain gets stronger the stronger the Divinity of the target. It was with it that Gilgamesh was able to bind the Bull of Heaven that brought seven years of famine to Uruk. It was this chain that aided him in ending the Age of Gods and ushering in the Age of Heroes.

"What manner of treachery is this?" Loki said in a voice more curious than angry. "I don't remember seeing this trick before."

I didn't answer him, since I could see that he still could gather Prana from the air. My legs weren't responding it right, some of the damage his earlier spell had done must probably cut some of the ligaments on them. Instead I traced my bow and then Moly, altering it to make a projectile out of it.

"A bow an arrow?" He cocked his head to the side. "Do you think the same trick you used to kill a Fallen Angel would be enough to kill a God?" His voice was amused, if nothing else. I still didn't respond and fired the dagger turned arrow at him. It was the first time I saw the smugness in his face disappear. "What's this?" I aimed at his bicep, where he wouldn't be able to reach it with either arm while they were pinned by Enkidu. I didn't answer his question and traced another Moly, altering and firing. Rinse and repeat.

I fired a total of nine altered Molys at him, before finally answering his question. "That's Moly. The dagger stylized as a flower wielded by Odysseus to protect against Circe's Magic. It has the ability to negate the gathering of Prana by anyone stabbed with it."

He looked at the daggers turned arrows. "Interesting. From what I knew Moly was a flower itself, not a dagger." He said, his tone back to amused. "Still, you must be more mad than I thought if you think these little toys..." He began to force his body and I could see Enkidu straining. "...will be able to restrain me." The force he was using was something similar to what Berserker had done during the Grail War.

Wait! Did I see Berserker being restrained by Enkidu? When? Was this another memory from another self, or was mine. It was getting hard to discern the difference between them. They were mine all the same, but had their differences...

No matter. I have to stay focused. This guy will break Enkidu if I lose my concentration. Heck, he might break it even if I don't lose it. "Enkidu!" I called again, and another layer of the chain spun around him. The Chain of Heaven was a whole grade lower than normal because it was a projection, so I imagine that it wouldn't be enough to restrain him for long.

But even this was just stalling. How long would I be able to maintain these chains... Which begs the question. Why am I fighting so hard again? I'm going against a God here. There's no way to kill one of these guys unless it was by another God and it was in its legend that he died. Loki as far as I know didn't die, but he was imprisoned by Vali in the bowels of one his own children, suffering and agonizing until Ragnarok began and he managed to free himself and began to enact his revenge on the Norse Pantheon.

The second Enkidu began to crack as well. I called a third and a fourth, wrapping him tightly. "I'll admit that these chains are powerful..." Loki began. "...but I was just testing them. They can't hold me for long." Again I didn't answer, going over my options. Do I summon another layer of Enkidu and begin to charge Caladbolg? No. In this enclosed space it would be suicide. Excalibur too. Unlimited Blade Works... No. If I rewrite this space with my Marble, who knows what will happen to the seal Ajuka used to trap us in here.

What other options do I have? There's got to be something in these memories. Something to be used against a God. I thought Enkidu would be enough to hold him down, but it didn't seem to be able to do it for long. A fleeting memory came to me at that moment. It was a smile. The red clad servant's last smile at the end of the Grail War. I smiled bitterly. I'll be dead in short order, but I refuse to die like Archer did, on the hill of swords inside Unlimited Blade Works.

There's got to be something in these memories, something that I can use. Something...

The chains broke and he began to methodically remove each of the Moly arrows from his body, not even wincing when they were removed. Once all of them were removed he looked at me with disdain. "It seems our time is up." He pointed at me, and another sigil appeared and a white light shot in my direction before I could do anything, besides recall Durandal and use it to shield me.

It wasn't enough because this time he used even more power in that stream of light than before, sending me crashing against the wall of the pyramid, then through the wall, destroying it in the process. I could feel the parts of my body that weren't shielded by the Holy Aura being perforated by the attack, my right leg got mangled and I lost a good portion of the skin and flesh on my right arm. The force of the attack sent me against a rock formation outside the boundary of the pyramid he just destroyed.

"Shirou!" "Sempai!" "Emiya!" I heard a cacophony of people calling for me and when I looked up there was around ten other people there. Shitori, Rias, Ise, Akeno, Saji, Shinra, Koneko, Kiba, Quarta and Shidou. There was also the silver haired bodyguard of Odin there too, wearing an armor that seemed designed more to enhance her figure rather than protect her from damage.

"Beelzebub really try to do foolish things." Loki said floating upwards again.

The white haired woman went to the front of the group. "Lord Loki. Baring your fangs at out Great Father is unforgivable! You should voice your opinions through the proper channels!"

"The Valkyrie that accompanies Odin, huh?" The God began to say, and I scooted to sit myself in a position that I could evaluate the damage better. Avalon had already began to work on the ligaments on my legs, so that was a plus. My right leg was bent in a completely unnatural way, and my arm was flowing blood freely. The tux that they had lent me was completely destroyed. "I hear that you are talented, but your power is far from a God's."

"You refuse to listen to reason." The Valkyrie muttered.

"But you are below even that human as a opening sacrifice for the beginning of Ragnarok." Loki said condescendingly. Then without him moving several rays of white light exploded in the rock formation right below him, and from it, the same wolf-mammoth thing appeared again.

"Fenrir!" I heard the woman say. Huh, so that's really Fenrir. Another two explosions in the rocks on both sides of the beast occurred and other smaller versions of Fenrir appeared. "Those are Fenrir's children, Hati and Skoll." At this point I felt something being dumped over me. A small drop. It was enough to feel my whole body regenerate faster than it should be possible. My head whipped to the person who had used a Phoenix Tear on me, and the watery smile I saw on her face was enough for me to not say anything against it. I was about to argue that they should guard it to use later since I could regenerate faster than any of them, but Akeno's face forbid me of doing that.

A powerful lightning blast occurred just after that and it pulled me out of that introspection. Right, there's a mad God hell bent in destroying the world right in front of us. First deal with it, then berate her for using something that was so valuable on someone like me.

"The Midgard Serpent." I heard Rias say, as soon as the explosion from the thunder that hit the ground faded and a giant serpent appeared from it. "One of the five Dragon Kings."

"So many legendary monsters!" Someone, I think Shinra, said with fear in her voice.

"That's probably just an imitation created using the King of Dragons as a base." The Valkyrie said, looking back at the others.

"We're surrounded." Ise said, analyzing our position. I was just getting up from the ground, awed that my wounds were completely healed by the Phoenix Tear. I thought those things didn't work on humans, only supernatural beings. Guess I was wrong.

"Don't get intimidated. Remember your training." I called over everyone else. "What's the plan?" I asked the redhead. "I assume you didn't come here without one."

"We need to buy time." She said to me, but everyone else nodded at the same time.

"That's..." I frowned. They were buying time for something... Either one of the Maous or someone else to come, probably.

"You'll regret fighting against a God!" Loki said, while he hovered beside the head of the Midgar Serpent, then with a wave of his arm, the four beasts started to advance.

"Buchou!" "Kaichou!" Ise and Saji said at the same time. Both Rias and Shitori nodded and they declared. "Promotion: Queen!"

Then Ise declared. "Welsh Dragon Balance Break! Scale Mail!" His whole body was enveloped with a red armor. My eyes widened. Hadn't we destroyed that armor a few days ago? How can he be using it now again? Don't tell me he actually sold his arm to Ddraig again. He immediately shot towards Loki. After a few words, Fenrir destroyed his wing and was about to attack him again when he fell, but both Kiba and Quarta bailed him out. On the other side of the battlefield, Koneko began to attack Skoll, while Akeno moved with Rias, Shitori and Shinra to attack the Midgard Serpent. That left Hati with both the Valkyrie and Shidou.

I turned my attention back to Loki. He was still hovering in the air, watching the whole thing with an amused expression. There's got to be something I can use against this bastard. Now that we have open space I could try Caladbolg or Excalibur, but both take time to charge. I called instead another spear from my arsenal.

I cocked my arm back and began to charge it. Immediately he realized what I was doing and fired a sequence of light bullets in my direction, and I had to dismiss Gae Bolg. Even if it charged fast here on the Underworld, it was still too slow for it to be useful. Instead I traced several normal swords and fired at him. He began to laugh and waved a hand in my direction while saying something that I didn't quite get it.

A Sigil appeared on his hand and all my swords simply changed direction, all of them missing their target. I dismissed them, otherwise they could find their mark on someone I didn't want them to. Saji appeared at the one of the rocks and tried to use his Sacred Gear, Absorption Line, on Loki, but the God simply dodged the lines. "Hmpf. I get to fight only the weaklings, huh?"

"You'll get burned if you underestimate these weaklings, God." Saji said and I saw that he was posturing. What was he planning?

"Don't make me laugh." Loki said and fired another stream of bullets in his direction. I didn't have time to project anything in his position to protect him, but still I moved as fast as I could. I could feel the others get worried about him, but I could still feel his scent. He must have jumped down and used the rock formation as a shield. From the other side of the battlefield I could feel Koneko and Akeno unleash their own innate powers too.

Loki wasn't even looking in my direction anymore, but at whatever damage the others had done. "Hummm... For weaklings you are all pretty good."

The Valkyrie floated behind him at that point, further distracting him from me. "Lord Loki, please think this over. I'm sure Odin will still forgive you." When I got to the position I thought Saji would be, I was dumbfounded to not find him anywhere in the middle of the cloud of dust.

"Don't be confused." The God answered, while turning only his head to the woman. "I am the one fixing his mistake."

The woman grimaced and countless Sigils appeared around her, from each of them a white line of energy shot towards the God. While he batted aside the attack, another line came from a complete different angle. Saji had managed to ensnare him with the Absorption Line. "Got you!"

The God looked at the line with contempt and a Sigil appeared on his wrist where the line was rolled around, but it was ineffective. "What? I can't get free."

I took that moment to summon Gae Bolg again and charge it, only for him to look in my direction one more time and send another stream of power, that was canceled by the Absorption Line. "Azazel-sensei tweaked with it a bit. He gave me all the Vritra-type Sacred Gears and implanted them on me."

"So these are Vritra's dark flames." The God said with almost curiosity, mixed with annoyance. I didn't wait anymore.

"Gae Bolg!" I called and the spear of the Hound of Ireland flew from my hand in the direction of the God.

"Even a God can't escape the curse of Vritra easily." Saji called from his side.

"Such a clever combination of Devil, Dragon and Magician." He poured more mana into his fist, creating a shield of pure Prana around him that cut the Absorption Line and deflected Gae Bolg once. The demonic spear circled around once more and again went for his heart, but this time instead of pulling his aura again, he simply put a hand up and grabbed the spear out of the air. I gaped at that. No one should be able to grab Gae Bolg once it was called. It became a conceptual weapon at that point. It shouldn't be possible.

"No way..." It left my lips without me meaning to. He began to pull power to him from all around the field. I dismissed Gae Bolg and he didn't even bothered to look at it when it disappeared.

Then I heard the Valkyrie yelling. "Lord Loki. You can't! If you do that, not only the Underworld, but all the Pantheons will be affected!"

"It will only speed up the coming of Ragnarok." Then his voice came dangerously low. "That is my wish to begin with!"

"What the hell is he doing?" I asked and paled. "Everyone to me! Now! Teleport if you have to!" I yelled at everyone on the battlefield at the same time I projected Svalinn in its conceptual form over my head protecting the area around me. My voice was harsh, the one I use during training. A blizzard began to fall on the battlefield even as the four High Pieces began to do just what I asked. The Valkyrie and Shidou came flying, recognizing the voice of command, like Quarta did the first time I got her roped into one of my training exercises. Funny how things are, I'm the only human on the field, and they are all accepting my command, even over their own Kings.

As soon as the blizzard ceased, I looked at Loki again. He moved both his hands and several Sigils appeared, all of them moved in concert with his hands and pointed upwards. There's no way that can be good. "What is he trying to do?" I asked to the Valkyrie beside me.

"He's unleashing all of his Divine Powers inside this closed space. It'll destroy everything." The woman gritted her teeth without letting her eyes away from the God.

"Starting with us." Shitori completed. She teleported in with both Shinra and Saji. Rias had brought Ise and Koneko, while Akeno brought Kiba and Quarta. Kiba was more battered than I thought. Shidou came flying on her own.

The God finished casting his spell. "You'll be eaten by my children at the beginning of Ragnarok. A fitting ending for weaklings like you." Then he fired it at the sky. Time slowed down to a crawl again. I could see in the sky countless pillars of light forming. I could feel Akeno, Rias, Shitori and Shinra lifting their hands to form shields. I could almost see Ise moving to shield Rias with his own body.

It wouldn't be enough. All their shields combined wouldn't be enough. Rho Aias wouldn't be enough, even if I called several copies of it. Avalon should be able to protect everyone, but I don't know if it would work again. The first time I used it had called to me. Now it hasn't. I did the best I could, lifting both hands and calling. "Rho Aias!"

I watched with detached horror as the whole battlefield was shot down with light. Avalon hadn't answered my pleas so I had to use the next best thing, but it wasn't enough. I felt that the first shot would hit mere inches from me, so I jumped back and twisted my body, pulling both Akeno and Quarta to the ground, using my own body to shield them. Everywhere pillars of light fell, and I heard the cries of pain of everyone around me.

No...

Not again.

I'll not let this happen again.

Not again.

People will not die on my watch.

Not again.

I tried to force my mind to work over its limits.

Not again.

Everyone around me was in worse situation than what I expected.

Not again.

I could feel the life ebbing away from them.

"NOT AGAIN!" I yelled out and forced my mind to break again. This was the first time I tried to do this willingly. I don't care if these memories will break my psyche, if I'll not be myself anymore. If I can save these people here, it will be worthy in the end. Ironically enough, the first memory that came back was one that my mind _had_ broken and I had lost my sense of self. Lost who I was, who I was fighting for, who I was fighting with. Only the sense of accomplishment of having defeated a foe that I wouldn't be able to normally. I had Archer's arm implanted in me in this memory. Then the memory changed, and I was fighting on top of Ryuudou Temple against Kotomine instead of Gilgamesh and I had just managed to stab the Azoth through his chest. Another change, and I was seeing the Jeweled Sword Zelretch, at the least the paper blueprint of it. In this memory it was one of the blades I had never traced until that point. More and more memories began to flood my mind until I found something that could help. Several things that could help. Hundreds of weapons that could help. Not the memories themselves were helpful but the weapons were.

I pulled my body up, even as I couldn't feel a good portion of my torso. I didn't dare even look down. I hacked and coughed, my hearing completely blown and all I could hear was the buzzing silence inside my mind. I looked at bastard sneering down at us and was puzzled for a moment.

I couldn't recognize him.

I just knew that he was the enemy.

I turned my head and looked at the kids all around me.

Allies.

Under my protection. Under my tutelage.

Four of them were relatively okay. The three boys were mangled. One of them was wearing armor. Was it one of my charges too? Or an ally in this battle? It didn't matter at the moment. Two of the girls were injured. The last one was bleeding freely from a wound on her chest. I felt my chest tighten as I saw that but the feeling was dismissed just as it came.

In a fraction of a second I selected the best way to do what it should be done. Protect and heal. I traced a tool on my left hand, looked at it curiously for a moment, and opened my arms wide with it held in my left hand. This wasn't a weapon, or even a sword, this was a scalpel. A simple scalpel, with no hidden properties whatsoever. Its only meaning was on the user, as with Berserker's sword-axe, it had absorbed the knowledge of, ironically enough, another Berserker. Another Servant. My lips began to move and I don't know if my voice was being heard by anyone.

"Commence treatment." I could see the enemy's shoulder began to shake. "I will abstain from everything that's harmful and everything that's poisonous." The enemy threw his head back, in a full blown laughter. "I will stop them with all my strength and guide everybody to happiness!"

I felt the mana gathering around me as day turned into night and a enormous ghostly visage of a nurse with a sword prepared for an overhead strike appeared above me in explosion of mana.

"Nightingale Pledge!" The ghostly visage that at that moment swung its sword down was known as the Goddess of the White Cloth of Steel, another name for Florence Nightingale, the Angel of Crimea, the woman whose ideals were close enough to the ideals that 'Emiya Shirou' had at one point in his life. In her mind, it was perfectly justifiable to kill one to save another, and that was why her class when summoned as a Servant was always Berserker even though she was known all her life as a healer. Her Noble Phantasm, Nightingale Pledge, denied the existence of all toxicity and hostility in the area of effect, disabling Noble Phantasms and weapons of any kind, while healing allies and the user.

The effect was instantaneous as the four beasts the enemy had called seemed to reel back from the area of the effect and even the enemy himself faltered for a second. Allies were healed, from almost their dying breath to perfect health.

All of them, except for the girl who was still bleeding freely.

My chest tightened again at that visage. A part of my mind cried out even harder, but I couldn't discern what it was saying.

"No." The voice came out of me was disbelieving, before it turned steely. "No. She'll not die. Not here."

"All of you will die. And Ragnarok will begin." I heard the enemy saying behind me, but I didn't pay it any heed. She won't die. I dismissed the scalpel and selected another Noble Phantasm. This one couldn't even be considered a weapon in any way. This is a Regalia. A Divine Artifact that wasn't even a blade or a Mystic Code. Part of me thought that I shouldn't be able to call it, but I didn't care.

I would use it.

It began to float around me and a fan of ofuda talismans appeared on my right hand. "God who resides in Izumo." A part of me thought that I should be feeling some kind of drain in my body. I didn't, but it didn't matter. "Aesthetically certain, Breath of the soul." A pillar of prana began to form around me and I threw the talismans up. "Residing in the mountains and watery heavens, Amaterasu." The eight talismans formed a circle around me. "Let this freely become the proof of purification." The talismans all flew away from me and for every single one of them a vision of a torii gate appeared, protecting all of my charges from outside interference. "Thy name is Weighted Stone of Tamamo." The Noble Phantasm stopped floating around and stood still in front of me, before starting to spin in place. "Bring back the lost, Return of the Soul!"

The Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu on the Weight Stone under the Sunlit Watery Heavens, or just the Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu. The Yata-no-Kagami. This mirror is a Sacred Regalia which was enshrined in Izumo after being brought to Tamagahara by Takehinateru-no-Mikoto. It was granted to Tamamo-no-Mae to be used with severe limitations. At full power, this mirror is an Anti-World Noble Phantasm, capable of leveling countries with a single calling, but I didn't want it for that at the moment. I wanted it for one of its other properties.

It can cancel the Laws of the Yomi-no-Kuni and lets the user bring someone back to life. Amaterasu never granted that much power to Tamamo-no-Mae, but I just broke that restriction. I'll not let her die. She's important. Too important to die here. She's not even human, but I don't care. The world of the dead will not claim her Soul. The torii began spin around us and I could feel the disbelief around all of us, getting closer and closer, until it was just above her body. Then they dissipated, and all the wounds on her body disappeared. Her eyes fluttered open a moment later, and I felt the relief coming from all my charges, mixed with awe and fear.

I dismissed the mirror as I surveyed them one more time and nodded to myself. These kids will be able to continue their lives. They are not going to die on my watch. I eyed the enemy one more time and, as if it was the first time, felt his power. A God. That was a God.

I needed something that was able to kill a God. Something that he wouldn't be able to escape from. Something that he would underestimate. I traced a spear in my hand and heard a pained voice at my back. "Shirou!" The one who was just brough back. I heard her hack and cough but I didn't turn back to her. I knew she was okay.

Seeing her hurt was enough for me to get furious. Feeling her life being claimed by Izanami-no-Mikoto was enough to get me in a frenzy. I eyed the four beasts that were still away from us because of the effect of Nightingale Pledge. The area had already dissipated, but they didn't need to know that. I twirled the spear above my head once and eyed the floating enemy. "Here I go!" I said softly as I began to run in the direction of the God. The first verse served as both an announcement and the beginning of the three line Aria to activate this Noble Phantasm.

"Shirou!" The same voice again, coupled with a few others. I didn't let them slow me down.

"Stab and penetrate... Thrust and drill!" The second verse. At this point the spear in my hand grew from the five feet it had to four times that size at least. Its red aura crackling with pure power. Not the demonic power the other spear I had used before, just pure raw prana. I grunted when my feet dug into the ground and I cocked my arm back.

The enemy must have realized what I was planning because he began to float away from me. Higher. I didn't matter. Right now, I only needed to call out the Noble Phantasm's name.

"Gae Bolg..." The enemy stopped ascending, and I could see his smirk beginning to form. He had already stopped Gae Bolg earlier in this battle, and would probably sneer something about stupidity of humans and weaklings, but I hand't finished just yet. "Alternative!"

The spear flew from my hands faster than Gae Bolg would. He tried to deflect it one more time with the same aura he had used before, but this time, my attack would have none of it. Gae Bolg Alternative, the Soaring Spear of Piercing Death, it was the ultimate Noble Phantasm of the warrior queen of the Celtic Mythology Scáthach, who later gifted a lesser version of her spear to Cú Chulainn. She was the gatekeeper of the Land of the Shadows and had to kill many a God in her time outside of reality, outside the Root, to maintain the gate between both safe.

Which means that this Spear is a God Slaying weapon.

And right now is targetting a God.

The aura the enemy tried to use was completely ineffective and the spear stabbed clean through the enemy's heart, then turned and stabbed again from its back passing through his diaphragm, then turned one more time and went through his liver. Another turn and his right lung was pierced next. It continued going back and forth, in a gory scene that continued to drill through his body on key points. Carotid artery, femural artery, groin and spleen. Before coming down from the sky and was about to impale him, head to toe, when his eyes flashed red as he looked at me.

He said something that I couldn't make out. I felt something trying to get into my Soul, trying to restrict it, trying to tie it.

Trying to curse it.

It washed over me like water from a waterfall passing over a bed of rock, and I got out of it unscathed. The enemy had just enough time to widen its eyes before Gae Bolg Alternative impaled him from head to groin. Bringing him down with the force of the strike. Contrary to what I expected, the beasts didn't disappear with him. They continued to barrel down at me.

On my left, a beast of draconian origin, a serpent. A fanged beast, whose mouth could bite me whole, came from my right. Two smaller beasts came directly in front.

They wouldn't get to my charges. I would not fault them again. I would not let them get hurt. I would not let them die.

Not on my watch.

It took a fraction of a second for me to trace another Noble Phantasm. "I respectfully ask for the divine protection of the Sun God Apollo and the Moon Goddess Artemis." I pulled the string of the bow in my hand. "With my bow and arrows, I offer thee this calamity!" An arrow of pure raw prana formed itself on the bow. "Phoebus Catastrophe!"

I released the string aimed at the heavens and a moment later a rain of arrows made of pure Prana began to fall over the four beasts. The onslaught didn't stop, even when the four went still. This bow was Tauropolos, the Bow of Heaven. A jet black long bow, with details in gold, gifted to Atalanta by Artemis, and named after one of the goddess' titles. Atalanta was known as a peerless hunter and, when facing impossible odds, was able to pray for both the sun and moon for protection in order to execute this attack.

Even downgraded a whole rank by being called through a fake bow, its sheer firepower was enough to deal with mindless beasts such as these.

A silence fell over the battlefield. The beasts were unmoving. The enemy was impaled. Casting my senses out, I felt three more figures on a plateau a little ways away and fixed my eyes on them, dismissing Tauropolos and tracing Archer's bow.

My Bow.

Whoever was there, they wouldn't get to my charges. They wouldn't lay a finger on them. I wouldn't let them.

"Sempai!" I heard a female voice of one of my charges behind me. I wouldn't let whoever those people were get to her.

"Sempai!" Another shout, this time male. I traced Caladbolg and altered it into Caladbolg II.

"Shirou!" I was already charging the Fake Spiral Sword, when a presence tackled my side, making me release the arrow, and miss my target. It exploded beside the plateau, leveling it, a moment after the presences there disappeared. They teleported away.

I tried to untangle myself from whoever had tackled me, but the girl was surprisingly strong. No matter, I had to make sure there was no more enemies. I had to make sure they wouldn't be hurt. I had to-

"Shirou!" Another pair of arms held me from behind by the waist.

"Shirou! Stop!" A bundle of black hair tied in a ponytail with an orange scarf yelled from below my face.

I tried to form words, but I couldn't. All I could think about was the battlefield.

The enemies.

There's always enemies in the battlefield. I can't be held down like this by my own charges. I have to be able to move them without hurting them.

It would defeat the purpose of protecting them.

Reinforcing my legs, I got up with the three presences still drapped around me when I heard another voice. "Sempai!" The same male voice as before, but when I swiveled my head at him, I didn't see one of my charges. I saw a combatant, wearing a red armor.

At once, I pulled both arms from my chest and moved the brunette from my chest to my back.

The one who was wearing red armor... Why only now I realized that it wasn't one of my charges?

It was a Dragon.

How could a Dragon get so close to my charges without me realizing. No matter. I wouldn't let it get any of them.

It had to die.

I jumped forward, tracing Kanshou and Bakuya, and attacked the red Dragon. "Sempai!?" It said with the confused voice of one of my charges. It must have eaten one of them already.

Damn it.

No one else. This Dragon won't kill any one else. It will die here. I slashed with Kanshou once and it flew back, but I didn't let it get too far away, before jumping after it.

"Sempai, what's wrong?" It asked with such bewilderment in its voice that I had a hard time convincing myself that it had to be faked. It only bristled my nerves even more.

"Shirou! Why are you attacking Ise?" Another concerned voice from my back. Don't they see the enemy is already in between our midst? I suppose that's why they are under protection and not battling side by side with me.

"Lord Emiya!" I came down slashing with both Kanshou and Bakuya simultaneously, directly on the Dragon's torso. It should be enough to make him dodge away from my charges so I could call something more powerful against this beast.

To my surprise, it didn't dodged. It grabbed both swords in its claws and I heard a sound coming from the left gauntlet. "Boost!"

My blood ran cold when I heard that. It was already using the powers that my charge had before eating him. It was using the powers of a person that was under my protection. I would not let it get away with that! I jumped and kicked with both feet on its chest, using the momentum to somersault back and dismissed both married swords, before calling another blade.

Ascalon, The Blessed Sword by Which Force is Slain.

"Ise! Release the Balance Breaker!" I heard another one of my charges cry in panic.

There's no need for fear. This Dragon will die now. No Dragon-kin can survive this. "Let me show you!" I began chanting. "This is the truth of Ascalon!" A sigil formed at my feet. "Thou dragon with Sin!" I pointed the sword up to the sky, and got into a stance. "As-"

My chant was cut off when again I was tackled from behind by one of my charges. Why are they doing this? Are they under some spell from the Dragon? I eyed it hatefully for a moment, before it disappeared and one of my charges, the one it had eaten, appeared in its place. Is it trying to trick the others into thinking that he didn't eat my charge?

"Shirou! Stop! What are you doing!?" I heard the shrill cry from my back, as whoever had tackled me straddled it. Moments after I felt my other charges begin to overwhelm me, all holding me down. Only the Dragon kept away, eyeing me with fear in its eyes.

You can feel all the fear you want. You'll not be alive for much longer. I Reinforced my body to the limit, and began to force myself to get up, even with the weight of everyone trying to hold me down. I'll not let them be used by this creature. I'll destroy it, this shapeshifter bastard. I'll finish-

"Shirou!" The one I had saved before appeared in front of me again, pulling my head with both her hands to force me to look into her violet eyes. "Stop! That's Issei-kun!"

"I have to kill the Dragon..." I said in between breaths, trying to remove the weight from my back. "If I don't it will kill more of my charges."

"Shirou! That's Issei-kun! The Dragon is sealed in his gauntlet!" The girl continued to say and the memories of the pervert began to trickle down on me.

"What... But... The Dragon ate..."

"No one has eaten anyone, Shirou!" The girl said, forcing me to look at her eyes. "That's Issei-kun!"

Whatever she was going to say, it got cut off as a explosion happened on the sideline. Great, I was distracted by my charges and now the enemy is attacking again. The explosion must have startled the others as well, because I managed to free myself from everyone except for the brunette who clung to my back and didn't let go.

"Lord Odin had sent a copy of Mjölnir in order to Seal Loki, but..." The white haired armor user said. I narrowed my eyes at her. I don't remember her... but Odin is the Supreme Norse God, so if she's talking with such deference to him, she must be a Valkyrie...

Oh, yes... She was Odin's bodyguard.

Wait... How do I know that?!

Where am I?

Something is not right. It's like more than one voice is talking at the same time inside my head.

I was... Where was I? I remember fighting a Dragon...

No, that wasn't a Dragon. That was Ise.

Ise... Who's Ise?

I shook my head.

Ise, Hyoudou Issei, the perverted Pawn of Rias' Peerage.

Peerage? Rias? Issei's name was Ryuudou, wasn't it?

No, wait...

Right, I'm in another universe...

How did I get here again? I have to find Rin. She'll know what to do. She always does.

But Rin was with Archer... No, Archer is dead. Or is he? Wasn't she with Saber and me? Wait, that's not right as well. Since when was Archer a 'she'? Archer was supposed to be a version of me. No. I was with Rin. And Fuji-nee. And Illya. And Sakura.

Sakura? Yes. Sakura was Rin's sister and she had participated in the Grail War for the Matous. She summoned Rider, the Gorgon, Medusa.

No, the Master of Rider was Shinji.

Then why did I fight alongside Rider?

Did I summoned Rider instead of Shinji or Sakura? Why did I fight Saber? A Saber... There were several...

Saber.

Avalon was Saber's Sheath. She was the only one who could call it as a Noble Phantasm, but I did it too, during the Peace Conference to defend against the Dragon's attack.

I tried to attack the Dragon then too, didn't I?

No, that was another Dragon. It wasn't Ise.

What's going on?

"Shirou?" I heard a voice bringing me out of my introspection, and leapt back into a crouch, eyeing the owner of the voice, wary of any ambush.

Then it hit me. "S-Sa-!?" I cut myself off from asking, shaking my head. No that was not Sakura. I'm in another parallel world.

Sakura here is married to Archer.

No. Not Archer, Tohsaka-sensei, my counterpart in this world.

"Lord Emiya?" Another voice, and I looked again at the silver haired woman.

"Il...lya...?"

No. Illya wasn't so old, or was she? She was supposed to be eternally the image of a twelve year old girl. No. Not eternally, only until her body breaks apart.

Also, her hair was white not silver. Illya was dead. She was killed by Gilgamesh for her heart, the core of the Grail. She shouldn't be here as well.

Yes. I'm in another world. There are Devils here. They are Devils under my protection.

Protection? Why am I protecting Devils?

I grabbed my head with both my hands, trying to stave off the headache that was forming. Then I tensed and almost traced Kanshou and Bakuya when a pair of arms enveloped my head.

This feeling... This... tranquility... I remember this...

"Shirou... What happened?" This voice, this scent... this is my... girlfriend?

How's that possible? Wasn't I with... Rin?

Sakura?

Ayako?

Caren?

Wasn't I married to...

Who?

I'm not from this universe... How did this happen? Am I going...?

"Shirou. Look at me." The girl's voice. My girlfriend's voice. Akeno. Shrine Maiden. Half-Fallen Angel. I'm her Partner. That's important. I don't know why, but its important. Gotta remember that. Gotta grab at that knowledge. I can't forget that again. That's my anchor in this ocean of conflicting memories.

I did as requested and looked at her in her violet eyes. I felt other presences near us, but at the moment I wanted nothing more than keep looking at her eyes. It was as if I was finally whole. I could spend the rest of my life just lost in those violet eyes. She was all that I needed. Her slightly fearful eyes were full of resolution.

She put her head on mine the same way I opened a Soul Dive.

Soul Dive? Did I have a Soul to dive into?

The Soul comes from the Root and go back to the Root. Rin always said that.

But my Soul is my Reality Marble. Unlimited Blade Works.

Yes, that's mine.

Should I call it now, to attack these creatures?

No, they are important. They are friends, not creatures.

"Shirou. Who am I?" My anchor asked. No. Not Anchor. Akeno.

My body fell from the crouching position I was and I knelt down, letting all my weight fall on her.

"A... Akeno?" I heard my own voice saying that, hoarse, as if I had been screaming for the past hour nonstop.

What in the name of the Root is happening.

Since when did I began swearing to the Root?

I shook my head once again, feeling my Devil girlfriend's embrace.

Why am I feeling so peaceful in the arms of a Devil. Why do I want anything else but to protect these people? No, not just these. There's all the girls from the dorm too.

Dorm? What dorm?

Kuoh Academy's Dorm. The girls that were being manipulated by the Evil Pieces. They are now linked to me by my King Piece.

I have an Evil Piece? Am I Evil then? Is that why I feel like I should protect these Devils?

I couldn't understand anything anymore.

Then everything turned white and buzz took over my hearing.

"Shirou!" I felt someone grab my head in both hands and a forehead touch to mine.

And I promptly blacked out.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Noble Phantasm Altered from Canon**

 **Name:** Yata-no-Kagami (Eighfold Blessing of Amaterasu)  
 **History:** Mirror conceded to Tamamo-no-mae by Amaterasu during the time she was living as a courtesan of the Japanese Imperial Family.  
 **Properties:** This Regalia has eight blessings, but Amaterasu locked Tamamo-no-mae from three of them. Even then she was able to burn half the capital using it.  
 **Type:** Anti-World (only if unlocked all properties. When not its 'only' Anti-Army)  
 **Rank:** A~S (only if unlocked. When not its rank is 'D')  
 **Targets:** Special (Each property has a different range of target.)  
 **Owner:** Tamamo-no-mae

P.S. The eight properties will be explained in the next chapter.

 **Name:** Aetósh  
 **History:** Forged from the beak of the eagle that was supposed to eat Prometheus' liver eternally before it was saved by Heracles.  
 **Properties:** It damages the body in accordance with it's victims maximum strength. It can't kill, but it'll keep sapping the strength of whoever is stabbed to until they are near death. It stops and repeats the process once the victims strength surpasses a certain threshold.  
 **Type:** Anti-Unit  
 **Rank:** C  
 **Targets:** 1  
 **Owner:** N/A


	12. Interlude - An Unwilling Experiment

**A/N:** Don't own anything. Alex Kellar made an impressive artwork for the last chapter and I think it captured the feeling of the scene very well. You can find the link to it on my profile page.

* * *

 **Interlude**

 **An Unwilling Experiment**

* * *

Two days have passed since that battle. Right now, we're back in the human world, after everything that happened, the Maous wanted him to answer their questions, but he hasn't woken up since the battle. After much deliberation, it was decided they would let us come to the human world with him, since the three girls that are still part of his peerage didn't want to leave his side, even after Beelzebub-sama removed their Pieces and they signed the temporary contract with Marlianna-sama.

My King surprised me in letting me and Asia-chan come with them, without even me having to ask. Things between us are a bit shaky ever since I asked to be traded, but she understood that what I was asking wasn't something completely unprecedented. Of course, she'll make the most of it when the time comes.

His reluctance in trading for me was a blow at first, but after she explained the reason behind it, I understood. I know that I love him, and at the moment I could care less if it is really because of the Part, or I fell for him naturally, but I'm not so completely out of touch to not understand.

If it depended on me, I could be traded without feeling the least bit doubtful, but our relationship needs that the two of us, and not just me, to be sure of our feelings. Considering that he hadn't changed the way he acts around me despite our new status, it could either mean that he was already in love with me without realizing, which I hope is true, or that he simply doesn't want for me to get hurt.

At the moment he's still out of it, but I have to be strong for him. And that's the reason why I'm in the kitchen, making dinner. If I hadn't made sure that we created a schedule, I'm sure that the four of them, Giselle, Astrid, Margareth and Asia wouldn't leave his side the whole time they were here.

Who am I kidding? I too would be together with them.

Ravel-chan and her Peerage would come tomorrow too, according to the message I received from Rias. I just hope that nothing that needs my attention happens while I'm here worrying about my boyfriend when I should by all rights be with my King. I wouldn't be surprised if she casts me out at some point in the near future if I continue to act this way. She could Command me, but I think that she at least consider us friends enough to understand my reasons and that's why she let me come.

The doorbell rung, bringing me out of my introspection. "I'll get it!" I heard Asia-chan's voice coming from the living room. By the schedule we drew up, at the moment Giselle should be the one who's with him. While putting the finishing touches on our meal I heard the former Sister again call. "Akeno-san! Come quick!"

Her voice was a little more anxious than normal. Before I even made it to the living room, I was already hearing another voice in there.

"Again we apologize for the hour but my sister can be quite forceful when she wants to." I heard the voice, apologetic, just in time to enter the living room to see two faces that weren't exactly of my acquaintance, but that I was introduced to in the last few months. Sakura-san and Rin-san.

"Look, Sakura, I just want to get this over with. I can't take it anymore." Rin-san said, before she realized that I was in the room. "Ah, good evening."

"Good evening." I answered and was echoed by the other woman.

"Good evening, erm... I'm sorry, I want to say Himejima-san, but I'm not sure..."

"Yes." I answered. "How can I help you two today?"

"Actually it wasn't with you that we wanted to talk, but-"

"Bring that good for nothing womanizer out here!" The other woman bellowed making me wince and at the same time calling for the attention of the other girls from the dormitory, if the footsteps coming from the hallway were any indication.

I grimaced. "I'm sorry, but at the moment he's... indisposed." I answered carefully.

"I don't care if he's having a seizure." She said hotly. Now that I paid more attention to her, I could see that the woman had bags under her eyes, as if she hasn't slept in quite some time.

"I apologize for my sister's behavior, but according to her he's the only one who would understand what's happening to her and could..." She bit her lower lip, before sighing. "I'm sorry, but are you one of his contracted Devils?"

I felt my eyes narrow a little at the woman, but tried to smile at her at the same time. "No, I'm afraid not. Since when did you know?"

"Since coming here the second time." She bowed. "I guess introductions are in order. Tohsaka Sakura, Guardian of the Heiress of the Tohsaka family, the Seventh Seat of the Grauzauberer."

Grauzauberer, the Magician Council under Mephisto Pheles, founded by Merlin when he discovered how to teach magic to humans. That had me stunned for a moment before I bowed to the woman in kind. "Himejima Akeno, Queen of the Heiress of the Gremory Clan of the Seventy-two Pillars."

The trenchcoated woman turned sharply at me, before looking at Sakura. "Are you telling me that this whole time this guy was a Devil? Or is he a Magician too?"

"He's human." I answered her, more forcefully than I wanted.

The tone of my voice made the woman take a step back, before breathing deeply. "I'm sorry. Tohsaka Rin, Heiress of the Tohsaka family, the Seventh Seat of the Grauzauberer." She made a half bow, before turning back to me. "Why can't we talk to him?"

"Because he's been... asleep... for the better part of the last two days." I answered her, trying hard to not show any emotion. It pained me just to say that so lightly.

"Wake him up then!" The woman bellowed again.

"Nee-sama," The yukata clad woman said softly. "perhaps a little more tact would be in order. We don't know about their circumstances, after all."

The woman looked at her then at me, then at her again, before sagging her shoulders. "Right... Sorry. I'm a little on edge right now and he's the only one who can help me."

I signaled for them to sit on the couch, only now realizing that Asia had at some point gone to the kitchen and the other three girls were looking at us from the end of the hallway. "Perhaps if you could tell me what it's about I could help?"

They sat opposite me in the couch. "Maybe... First, before we say anything, let's make something clear. We are not signing a Devil contract with you."

I simply nodded and signaled for them to continue.

"My sister has been having dreams lately... about him... At first she thought it was about my husband because of an unrelated matter..."

"Their Parts?" I asked.

"Is he an Owner after all then?" Rin-san cut in again.

"No. He's not." I answered. "He's my Partner."

That drew sharp reactions from both of them. "How?! A Devil can't be an Owner!"

"We don't know exactly the details yet." I answered her. "But that is outside of the scope of your visit, I suppose?"

They looked at each other, then back at me. "Yes, that's correct. As I was saying, my sister has been dreaming lately about Emiya-san. At first she thought it was about my husband that she was dreaming, but several things didn't match up with what we know about him, but they did match with Emiya-san."

Asia-chan came into the room in that moment to serve a tea for the guests.

The woman took a sip of the tea and the other continued. "These... dreams... they repeat themselves. Every day I dream of the same thing." She reached her coat and pulled a notepad. "According to Sakura, these things are a spell formula of some kind but neither she nor Father can understand them. Maybe is something you Devils could?"

I reached for the notepad while asking. "If you think a Devil could understand, why did you want to talk to Shirou?"

"Because in the dreams he seem to understand them as well." She sighed. "I know it's farfetched, but I don't know what to do anymore. I can't go to sleep without seeing these things. Even if I am somehow knocked out by sedatives I still dream about them." Her voice continued to grow more desperate.

I looked over the notes on the notepad and my eyes widened. No wonder they couldn't understand the calculations for these spells. They weren't normal spells. They were Magecraft mysteries. "You're saying that you see these over and over?"

"YES! I saw them so much already that I already memorized the whole Aria!" She shouted.

"Aria?" I knew what an Aria was but this is the first time I heard anyone outside of me, Shirou and Rias say that word in this context.

"Yes. That's the word I use during the dreams." She shook her head. "I know they are not dreams, but a message of some kind, but we can't understand how they are coming to me."

I continued reading over the notes. It was almost a step by step of how to use the mystery but it couldn't be used by anyone who didn't have their Magic Circuits active. "I see..."

"Do you understand it?" Sakura-san asked and I nodded. "Why would a Devil send a message like this to her then?"

"Oh, no." I realized my blunder after I said it. "It's not because I'm a Devil. There's another reason why I understand it. There's actually five mysteries... spells here." I let the notebook on the table open.

"Five? Where does one begins and the other ends?" She asked, moving to look over the notebook.

"From here to" I flipped a couple of pages. "here is one, then from here to" Another page. "here is another..."

"I don't see the difference." She said.

"It's alright. I think I understand now why you are receiving these messages, but unfortunately I can't explain it to you. Only Shirou could."

If my supposition is right, then the Rin from his world is trying to communicate with him using her 'self' on this world as a medium. According to Shirou, she should be able to travel between dimensions, but he said that this universe wasn't one of her mapped dimensions on whatever she uses to travel so she can't come here directly, so she used her 'self' on the dimension from where the beacon he's casting to synchronize the memories of these mysteries.

Both of them deflated and I continued to scrutinize the little notes when something caught my attention. "Are these notes only for the dreams? Or do you use for other things as well?"

"No. That notepad only has my notes on the dreams." She said.

I nodded, before taking the notepad on my hands again. "Do you mind if I try something? I swear on my King's honor that it'll not be harmful to you in any way."

Rin-san looked at me wide eyed, but before she could say anything Sakura-san intervened. "What do you have in mind?"

"Here, at the end, there's a note. The last mystery isn't actually a mystery at all. Is just a way to inform the person sending the message that it was received." I answered. "If you don't mind, from what I'm reading here, I can try and cast it to see if your problem with the dreams will go away."

The trenchcoated woman looked hopeful while the other woman looked thoughtful. "Are you sure?"

"If these notes are complete, then yes." I answered her. "Although, I would like for Shirou to read them over, but I don't know when he'll... wake up..." I felt my chest twist again in pain, but took a deep breath trying my best to not show any emotion for the two women.

"Did something happen to him?" Sakura-san asked.

"Yes." I answered, but decided to not elaborate.

We spent a few moments in silence as they conversed with each other without saying a single word. Just looking at one another, until a point where Sakura-san sighed. "Very well, if you can cast this... mystery? Then could you please try?"

I nodded and began to read over the notes again, to make sure that I wasn't missing anything. It was just a simple pulse, even more simple than Projection. A little burst of Od in the right frequency. I put my hand on the table and tried a few times, but there was nothing on it that said anything that could be dangerous. "I'll need for her to be asleep. I can show you to my room, or if you know a sleep spell, I think its enough."

They looked at each other again for a moment before Sakura-san got up from her position and Rin-san laid down on the couch. I was about to ask what were they doing when I realized that the woman was already asleep. I looked at the still awake one and was about to ask when she responded. "She has been so tired lately because she's been forcing herself to not sleep." She shook her head. "We thought that the dreams she's having were the same as mine, since I too am dreaming about my husband's life lately, but her case is different."

"What do you mean?" I asked before realizing. "Oh, right. The Dream Cycle."

"Dream Cycle?" She asked and I winced internally. All this worrying over Shirou is making me lose my edge, I guess.

"It's what Shirou calls it. The Partner dreams of the life of the Owner." I answered her.

"Oh..." She lapsed into a silence again when we noticed that Rin-san began to grimace in her sleep. "She must be dreaming already."

"Then let's try this." I knelt in front of the woman reading over the notebook again, then put a hand on her forehead. Concentrating on the mystery I began to gather my Od and called. "Paket Erhalten." It ended as soon as I finished. The grimace on her face smoothed over and she began to breathe more evenly. "I think it worked..."

"Apparently it did." The woman said, before kneeling down above her sister's head. "Now I just have to figure out how to carry her home."

"As I said, you can let her use my room until tomorrow at least." I shrugged. "I haven't slept there since coming back home two days ago."

She grimaced. "Are you sure? What will happen if Emiya-san-"

"I'll talk to him. Or, if you want, we can arrange a room in the dorms. There's still a few unused rooms in there." I said and she continued to grimace.

"I think that would be better." She said.

I turned to the girls still on the end of the hallway. "Can you prepare a room for our guest?"

"Akeno-sama... Are you sure?" Margareth asked.

"Yes. I'm sure." I answered the girl, who nodded and she went back to the dormitory with Astrid to carry out my request. I turned back to the woman who was moving to carry her sister. "I can carry her for you."

"Oh, no. I can handle my sister's weight."

I was about to argue that as a Devil, and a Queen at that, my physical strength was several times over hers, but decided against it in the end. There was no need to.

After inviting the woman to eat with us, and after she was back in the dorm room with her sister, I sat back on the couch again. Astrid had taken over for Giselle in watching over Shirou and I was with the notepad in hands again.

There was other four mysteries here. Of those four, two seemed tailored for the problem Shirou was having at the moment. Memory overload, according to the notes. Apparently this situation with memories was something that the Rin from Shirou's world had come across before. Which begs the question, how did she know that Shirou would be having problems with memories if she can't come here?

There was a detailed explanation of how the mystery worked. According to this the memory a person has is divided into two on the brain. Long-term memory and short-term memory. The short term memory was moved to long term memory in as little as minutes and had a different frequency than the long term memory. Using that frequency as a template the mystery targeted the memories on the long term memory storage and deleted them.

But if that was true, and according to this she already used this mystery on Shirou before, then how come he continues to have problems with the memories? How come they come back again after a certain period of time? Or do they? Actually, now that I reread once more, there's nothing here that indicate that she has used the mystery before. I was just assuming she did.

Maybe Shirou was having problems with memories before coming here? If that's the reason, I can see why she was working on a mystery like this. But why would she continue to work in this if he wasn't around anymore?

I know I won't be able to answer that question but if what I'm reading here is true, then I could use these mysteries to help him.

So engrossed into the reading I was that I didn't even noticed when someone touched my shoulder. "Akeno-san?" Asia-chan's voice.

I turned to the blonde. "Yes?"

"Have you been here since last night?" The girl asked.

"Since last...?" I looked at the window and winced at the sharp pain that came from spending way too much time concentrated into something and changing my field of view suddenly. I did indeed spent the whole night scrutinizing the contents of the notebook, apparently. "Oh my..."

"Are you okay?" The girl asked at the same time I felt the soothing warmth of her Sacred Gear's power wash over me.

"Better now, thank you." I answered. "It's my turn now, right?"

"Yes." She nodded.

I got up from the couch and thanked her, before moving to the bathroom to freshen myself up. While doing this I began to recall the contents of the notebook. If everything that was written there was correct, then Shirou's memory problems had something to do with the Second Magic. I entered his room and saw him on the same position he had been since coming home.

I knelt down beside his head and put a hand on his forehead. Nothing out of ordinary with his temperature and by all accounts he was just sleeping. I sighed and closed my eyes and began humming my mother's song. Should I try using these mysteries? From what I understand the notes were designed for Shirou only. But if he wakes up and doesn't know what is happening like before, what will I do?

The Geas Belzebub-sama placed on him is still active and will warn them when he wakes up, but until they come, who knows what he'll do in the meantime. Maybe it would be better if I simply let it go and wait, but...

He helped us so much in so little time that now that he needs help...

I finished the song and sighed, reaching for the hidden pocket on the sleeve of my haori. I looked again at the notes and came to a decision. Getting up from my place I walked to the living room where Asia-chan was sitting while reading a book. Or trying to, it seemed. Every few seconds she looked at the hallway, but even with me standing here, she apparently didn't see me. "Asia-chan..."

"Huh?" Then her eyes widened. "Akeno-san?" She got up immediately. "Is everything okay?" She asked worriedly.

I took a deep breath. "Asia-chan... If there was a chance to save someone even if it was slim, would you still do it?"

She looked at me puzzled for a moment. "I can't say for sure... It depends if it's really necessary, I guess." Then her eyes widened. "Do you know something to help Onii-chan?"

"I don't know if it'll work. Or even if it'll help at all..." I closed my eyes, before opening again trying to make a determined face. "But there's a chance that it could work for him. But... I don't know if it'll work..."

"Why don't we try it?" She answered easily, smiling. "I'll be together with you, in case he needs to heal."

I sighed. "Right... Let's try it then..." I griped the notepad a little tighter again and walked back into the room, kneeling beside him again.

Asia knelt on the other side of him, looking at me.

I read one more time the notes, before placing a hand on his forehead. Step by step. First, gather my Od, second read the frequency of the short term memory, third locate the long term memory, finally move his memories from long term memory to short term while erasing the memories that don't match that frequency. If he was awake, he would have a strong sense of deja-vu, but since he's asleep, he'll probably think he was dreaming about his own life. I wonder, would that be the same as the Dream Cycle? No, not the time to think about it.

The first mystery, it lets me read the frequencies, for lack of a better term, of the memories on his brain to find the correct one that is equal to the ones on his long term memory. I readied my mind's whip and striked. "Lesen Gespeicherter Speicher!" The flood of information was something I wasn't expecting. The notes didn't say anything about them. It was too much and I recoiled from the it as if my mind had been hammered by a thousand strikes simultaneously.

I fell backwards, my hand felt as if I touched an open wire. "Akeno-san?!" Asia's voice brought my attention to her as she was already with her Sacred Gear healing me. Only now I realized that I was sweating so much that if felt as I was in a sauna. "Are you okay?"

I took a deep breath. "Yes. I think so..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." I answered more sure this time. "Sorry. Wasn't expecting that sort of feedback." I smiled at the girl. "Let's try this again." Now I knew what to expect.

Before the girl could say anything else I began to try and even out my breathing once more and try to concentrate. Whatever this mystery did, the feedback had been enormous. Maybe I used mana unconsciously?

"Akeno-san..." The girl brought my attention back to her. She was worried.

I only smiled at her and put my hand on his forehead once more. Making sure that I wasn't gathering any mana was difficult. Then I remembered the Formalcraft circle on the workshop. "Asia-chan... Come with me." Without letting her say anything, I got him in my arms and began chanting.

"Akeno-san? Where are we going?" The girl asked, bewildered.

"Someplace where it'll help, I think." I finished the chant and told her. "Meet me at Shirou's workshop." And in the next moment we were there.

I gently put him down on the Formalcraft circle. He was too tall to fit his entire body inside it, so most of his legs were left out, but the important parts, his head and torso fit inside it with me without problems. I sat seiza-style on the floor and put his head on my lap. As soon as I finished this, Asia-chan showed up.

"Akeno-san, why did you bring Onii-chan here?" She asked.

"These mysteries... spells..." I showed her the notebook. "Work using Od, instead of mana, and I'm not sure if I can use my Od so well without adding mana to it unconsciously. Inside this circle there's no mana, so even if I try, I can't. These mysteries are from Shirou's brand of magic, and are different from anything I ever came across in the world, so I'm trying to take away one of the variables." I explained to the girl who was still bewildered. "Let's try this again."

"Are you sure it will be enough?" She asked.

"I don't know, but I won't know until I try." I told her as well as myself. I actually didn't need to do this. I could simply wait, but for how long? I couldn't be sure that whatever the Beelzebub-sama, Azazel and Uriel did to him before sending him here would be enough to make him come back to his senses.

Shirou is something of a wild card in between the three Factions. None of them can tell which he belongs to. So all they could do was whatever they did that day.

I took another deep breath, then looked at Asia-chan and nodded, before putting my hand on his forehead one more time. Gathering my Od this time was easier, since I didn't have any other energies around me to distract me. I readied my whip and once again striked. "Lesen Gespeicherter Speicher!" The feedback this time was less than before, but I still felt as if my hand was receiving thousands of pinpricks. Once the feeling died down, I once again took another deep breath and readied my mental trigger. "Speicher Löschen!" I felt the mental image of all nineteen of my magic circuits flare to life while my Od synchronized with his.

"Akeno-san!" Asia-chan's voice registered in my mind only after I realized that I had fell sideways on the floor. My breath was labored and I was drenched in sweat. My body was hot, too hot for this cloudy morning to be normal.

"I'm..." I pulled another breath. "I'm okay, Asia-chan. I'm okay..." I said, more for her benefit than for mine. My body felt as if it was on fire.

"No. You're not." She tried to say, but I still had to finish the mystery.

"One... moment..." I said, before moving his head to the floor gently then putting my lips to his. I felt the trickle of my Od draining with the action and after another moment it stopped.

There was no explosion of prana, no signs that he was better, nothing that said that anything I did even worked. I felt my mood fall again.

It didn't work.

* * *

 **A/N:** The names of the spells use Google Translate to create them, so if they are wrong, all I have to say is sorry about butchering another language.

 **Paket Erhalten** \- Package Received  
 **Lesen Gespeicherter Speicher** \- Reading Stored Memory  
 **Speicher Löschen** \- Clear Memory


	13. An Unwilling Present

**A/N:** Don't own anything.

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

 **An Unwilling Present**

* * *

When I came to again, I was inside my own bedroom, on the human world, and the light coming from the window told me that it was around sunset already. My eyes traveled to the ceiling and traced all the way back to the ground, then to the side, taking in the scenery as if for the first time. After seeing all of that during my trip down several conflicting memory lanes, now I was even more unsure of why I had those memories.

When I tried to move to sit up, I realized that I had a bundle of blonde hair on my stomach and had to smile. Asia was sleeping soundly, despite the hour, using my body as a pillow. I patted her head while cradling her enough to let me sit up, but let her continue to sleep on my legs. The slightly pained expression she had before, turned back to a more comfortable one when I began patting her head, filled with calm and innocence.

Trying to make sense of all those memories was hard. There was an undercurrent to all those memories that I didn't like at all.

I always lost someone in the end.

Saber would disappear at the end of the War, when not, it would be Sakura that would die from the strain of the Shards of the Grail, when not, Rin would sacrifice herself to save Sakura, when not, she would be sacrificed as the container for the Grail, when not, Illya would die having her heart carved out, when not, I would have to kill Sakura, when not... There was never a path where everyone lived... There was always at least one sacrifice.

Kill one to save ten. Sacrifice a son so the rest of the family can continue living. Sacrifice a family so the village can continue. Destroy a village for the town, a town for the prefecture, a city for the country. Always something had to be sacrificed.

A branch for the tree.

That was my whole way of life in all those lives. The same as Archer's.

"Onii...chan...?" The voice of the little blonde broke me out of my thoughts as I looked down back at her. She blinked twice and, I don't know how, without even setting herself or brace against the ground, she tackled me, sending me to hit my back hard against the wall. "ONII-CHAAAAAN!" The cry was hard and loud, as was the emotion on her voice.

"A-Asia...?" I asked, a little winded by the sudden effusiveness from the former Sister. "What's wrong?" She had began crying on my chest, while using all her Devil strength to grab my torso. Granted, a Bishop didn't receive anymore strength than a simple Pawn, but it was still greater than a normal human.

"Onii-chan! Onii-chan! Onii-chan!" The girl kept repeating herself at the same time that I heard a stampede in the hallway. Literally.

A few moments later my door burst open and Akeno, Margareth, Giselle, Astrid, Ravel, Xuelan and Mihae appeared on the doorway. I lifted my hand awkwardly. "Hummm... Hi?"

It was like a bomb had destroyed the floodgates and they simply poured inside the room, Akeno flinging herself over Asia to tackle me, while the others were happy with just coming near. "Idiot!" The Shrine Maiden said while she squeezed the my face into her chest. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" She kept repeating herself, sometimes punctuating the exclamation with a slap on the back of my head.

"Lord Emiya..." Even Ravel had unshed tears in her eyes. She knelt beside us while calling me.

"Wha-What's going on?" I asked.

"You've been sleeping for three days, you idiot!" Xuelan was the one who answered with a frown on her face, while she crossed her arms still standing, but I could see that even she was moist eyed.

"Three days?" My thought process screeched to a halt. "What? How?" I shook my head. "I was on the Underworld..."

"You were brought back to the human realm. You weren't waking up and Beelzebub-sama thought that maybe it was because of the air on the Underworld..." Ravel explained. "So they used a teleportation circle and brought you here."

"Asia-chan and Akeno-san were supposed to stay on the Underworld with Lady Rias, but..." Mihae completed the thought. "With these three feeling all that at the same time it was hard to make sure they would be okay alone with you." She said signaling to the three girls still linked to me.

"Feeling what?"

"It was... overwhelming, Shirou-sama." Giselle began, unease clear on her tone. "You know how we receive impressions of your emotions, right?" I nodded.

"Well... It wasn't like that..." Margareth continued. "It was more raw, more vivid, more..." She tried to find a word to explain and when she couldn't she simply said. "More."

"And it changed by the second." Giselle continued. "Anger, to happiness, to sadness, to love, to hurt, to hate, to serenity, to disgust, to terror, to admiration... it was all a jumble."

"Beelzebub-sama, once he discovered about that, tried to remove the King Piece from you but couldn't, so he removed the Pieces from us. Even he didn't know that it was so strong for us." Astrid finished.

That made me sit upright... or as upright as I could managed with both Akeno and Asia all over me. "What?!" I reached inside myself for the King Piece and couldn't find my connection with them and my eyes widened. "What happened to you guys? And what about the Pieces?"

"They're okay. The Pieces are inside the case." Xuelan pointed to the corner.

"But the mana-" I asked dumbly.

"We signed a temporary Contract with Marlianna-sama." Giselle explained.

"She said to call her as soon as you woke up too." I was staring dumbly at the trio who were looking at me apologetically, as if they did something wrong.

"No... It's okay." I sighed relieved. "I was just got worried there for a second..."

"You're... not mad at us?" Margareth asked, with her head down.

"No. Why would I? You did what you needed to do in order to continue surviving. Don't worry about it. If I was the one doing that to you guys then all the more reason." I looked back down at Asia, pulled her tighter in the hug and kissed the top of her head, signaling for her to let go so I could get up. The girl stopped crying at some point, but didn't want to let me go. Well, the same could be said about Akeno, who hid her face on the crook of my neck and was sobbing softly. "If you three still want to stay with me, then bring me your Pieces here."

The smile that blossomed on the trio's face was something that I was only accustomed to see on Asia. It made me a little surprised by the way the three were acting, but before they could even move I heard a rumble coming from my lower region.

At first I thought that it was Asia's stomach growling again, but to my surprise it was actually from myself. "I... I think I'm a little hungry."

"""I'll prepare dinner!""" The three girls said at the same time, almost darting out of the room while bickering between them who would do what, apparently having forgotten about the Pieces still inside the case. Ravel and Xuelan stared wide eyed at the three, before sighing themselves and smiling fondly.

"Shirou..." Akeno's first words after they left was soft and worried. "Are you alright now?"

I looked at the girl who had moved her head away from my shoulder and mulled over her words. "No. I'm not." I answered to hers and the others occupants shock. "We'll talk about it another time, but at least for now I think I won't flip out anymore."

"Flip out?" Ravel asked confused and Xuelan pulled her aside, probably to explain what that meant.

"Why are so certain?" Mihae asked while kneeling down in front of me, behind Asia.

"Because..." I frowned. "It's hard to explain. Just a feeling I have..."

"Shirou-san..." Ravel's Bishop said, disappointed.

"Sorry for not being more clear. I don't actually understand myself..." I gave the girl a wry smile before turning back to Asia. "Can I get up now?"

She nuzzled herself once more in my chest and let go, getting up. Akeno too got up and when I tried to, I almost stumbled. "Shirou!" Akeno said, quickly coming to my side, and holding me up.

"Whoa." I said, shaking my head quickly. "How long have I been asleep again?"

"Three days." She answered.

I felt my clothes clamp themselves to my body. I must have sweated profusely at some point. "I'll take a bath now, okay?"

"Are you sure?" She said. "Then I'll-"

"Alone." I amended hastily. She giggled quietly before releasing me. I half walked, half stumbled out of the room and to the bathroom. After taking a quick shower, I was leaving the bathroom only to find that everyone was there in the hallway, waiting for me. "Humm..." I began uneasily. "I'm okay, girls." I tried to reassure everyone.

"You should have called one of us, Shirou-sama." Margareth said. "We could have helped."

"Or you should at least had let Akeno-sama help you." Giselle said, pouting.

"There was no need." I smiled. "I'm okay now. See?" I said making a movement with my arms as if to indicate my whole body, but since I was wearing just the robes from the bathroom, it didn't actually let them see much. I began walking back to my room. "I'm going to change now-" My stomach began to rumble again and I had to smile sheepishly. "And eat something afterwards."

The eyes of three girls shot wide open again and they began to scramble down the hallway in direction of the kitchen by the sound of it. I chuckled despite myself and went to my room. I was almost reaching for the knot on the belt of the robe when I realized something. Akeno, Asia, Ravel, Xuelan and Mihae were still shadowing me, as in, they were inside my room before I realized.

"A little privacy, please?" I asked the quintet.

Asia and Ravel were the firsts to realize what was going to happen and shot out of the room like a bat out of hell. Xuelan began to laugh and Mihae to giggle, before following the other two, leaving only Akeno in the room and the brunette looked at me with mirth in her eyes. "Oh, Onii-sama? Since when were you so shy?"

I growled at the girl. "Akeeeeno..." She laughed a little but then her face went set.

"Shirou... There's something I need to tell you..." Then she sighed. "But it can wait until you eat something."

I nodded at her, surprised a little by her change in demeanor and she left.

After putting on a pair of pants and a black T-shirt, that I'm sure I never bought it and was wondering when it appeared on my wardrobe, I walked out into the hallway and to the living room. All the girls with the exception of the trio of Margareth, Giselle and Astrid were seating there. The aforementioned trio quickly ushered me to the dining room table and I had to gape at what I saw. They had prepared a full course meal and were eyeing me expectantly. I didn't have the heart to tell them that something a little less... heavy... would be better since I hadn't eaten anything in days, but decided against it in the end. I sat down and began to eat.

I began to eat, and to my astonishment, I couldn't stop eating. It was like my stomach kept processing the food faster than I could eat and the hunger didn't subside until after I had already finished eating everything that was on the table. The girls looked at me with their eyes shining, but I didn't have the heart to tell them that I didn't even taste their food. In the end I only smiled and thanked them for the meal.

After that little ordeal, the girls appeared each with their Pieces on hand, and I sighed and conceptualized them into the girls. One thing I noticed though was that all of them were now mutated as well. That brought my total of mutated Pieces to seven.

I went back to the living room and sat on the couch. Both Akeno and Asia sat at both my sides. I began to try and process everything that happened. According to the girls, not even Ajuka could remove the King Piece from me. I put a hand to my chest and felt that if I wanted I could do it. That was one less worry. When the time come, I would be able to transfer the girls to someone else.

My introspection didn't take long tough, because out of nowhere I felt another scent appear in the courtyard, and just as quickly as I began to get up, the woman was entering the house through the door to the yard. A woman wearing a yukata and flanked by two Devil Nekomatas. "Marlianna-san?" I asked, before turning to Akeno with a questioning look that she returned. The worst part was that the Nekomata seemed to be in her regal attitude, not the airhead one. That can't be good.

"Good evening, Emiya-dono." She said with a half bow to me. "I've been requested in the name of the Senri Clan to escort you to an audience with Tamamo Yasaka-hime, the leader of the Youkai Faction of Kyoto." She straightened herself again. "Your presence in Inner Kyoto is required."

"Why so suddenly?" I asked. "I literally just woke up from what was for all intents and purposes a three day coma."

"We haven't received much information about the reasons, just that you need to be there as soon as possible." Nirlianna and Lirnianna were oddly quiet bracketing their mother. She looked at Akeno. "Himejima-dono, could you gather the rest of the family?"

"Do they need to come too, Marlianna-san? I'm... I just woke up, and not that I don't appreciate the way you treated the three of them, but I'm still reeling from some things that..."

"I'm sorry, but a summons by Amaterasu's Avatar takes precedence for every Youkai." She said, stony faced. "I have permission to bring you by any means necessary."

My eyebrows shot up. That's the first time I really felt Marlianna-san's power being unleashed in full. I knew she was at least on par with Grayfia Lucifuge in question of presence, but this was the first time I really felt it directed at me. "I didn't say I wouldn't go, but..." I tried to explain to her when I realized something. "Wait, I thought that the Senri Clan was from Hokuriku."

"Yes. But as it was a call from Amaterasu-sama, we can't ignore it." She answered.

"Marlianna-san... I don't think you understand... I-"

"Shirou, I'll call the girls." Akeno said before I could even complete my thought.

That's when the door bell rang at the gate and I almost sighed in relief. I looked down at Marlianna-san. "Could you wait for a moment? I have to see who it is." She nodded and was back at her normal pleasant presence.

What the leader of the Youkai Faction wants to talk to me anyway?

When I looked at the gate, I almost cursed. Two figures were waiting for me there. "Shidou. Gabriel. Good evening." I said nodding to them. "What do I owe the pleasure of the visit?" It wasn't that weird to see Gabriel here, but today, if my math is right, isn't one of the days that she would come normally.

"Good evening, Emiya-san." Shidou bowed to me. "Is good to see that you are back in good health."

"Good evening, Emiya Shirou." The woman curtsied. "I have come to deliver a message from Michael."

"Did he finally decided to answer me about the Owners?" I asked the woman, but before I let her answer I waved them in. "Come on in. Though I have to warn you, I have other guests already waiting for me."

"No problems. If you prefer to finish with the other guests first, I think it would be better." The Angel said as we made our way to the house.

"Well, the other guest is about to escort me to Inner Kyoto, so I don't know if it'll take more time than your business or not." I said and, as I entered the house, I saw that Asia was accompanying the three Nekomatas. "Marlianna-san, I don't know if you know each other or not, but these two are from the Heaven Faction, Shidou Irina and..."

"Gabriel-sama!" The older Nekomata got up from her seat and bowed deeply to the Archangel, before righting herself. "It's been so long."

"Marli-chan~!" The Archangel said with smile that rivaled the lights of fireworks on New Year's Eve. "How have you been?"

"Quite well, Gabriel-sama. Thank you for your concern." The woman said without moving her head.

"Please, take a seat and..." I was about to move to the kitchen to prepare tea, but Akeno was already coming from there with a tray. She saw Gabriel and Shidou and sighed, going back to the kitchen. I sat on the couch across from the two, Shidou stood at attention behind Gabriel, while both Devil-Nekomatas stood behind Marlianna-san. I was going to call them on being on their feet, but decided against it. "So, Gabriel said she had a message for me from Michael and-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence when the door bell rang again.

"I'll get it, Onii-chan." Asia said, scurrying away from the room.

I sighed, looking at Marlianna-san. "Okay, as I was saying, Gabriel here was saying that she had a message from Michael for me, so if you don't mind waiting a little more?"

"No. It's okay. I'm sure Yasaka-sama will understand." The woman said, with a polite smile.

"Oh, Yasaka-chan is calling for him?" Gabriel said. "It's been so long since I last saw her. How is she doing?"

"I believe she's doing quite well, Gabriel-sama." Marlianna-san's voice was overly polite, but not quite cold. In fact it had some fondness to it, but she was still in her regal persona.

"Oh, that's good to hear." Then she turned to me. "Now, as I was saying-"

"Onii-chan." Asia's voice came from the foyer and another presence appeared behind her. The unmistakable figure of a Magical Girl, or in this case, Levia-tan with her usual cosplay.

"Shirou-chan!" She jumped inside the room. "Why didn't you-" Then she realized who else was there. "What is she doing here?!" The horror on her voice was something so out of character that I was taken aback.

"Ah! Sera-chan! How are you?" Gabriel smiled beatifically at the Maou while getting up from the couch.

"Geh!" Levia-tan jumped aside with both hands up, as if to protect herself, and I raised an eyebrow at the reaction. "I'm not Sera-chan! I'm the Magical Girl Miracle Levia-tan! Don't confuse it you... you... you... Angel!" She said the last word so scathingly that one would think that it was a insult of the most damnable.

"But that's not cute." Gabriel said putting a finger on her cheek while tilting her head to the side. "Serafall-chan is not too, so Sera-chan." She smiled brightly at the Maou who seemed cowed by that.

"Don't call me that!" Levia-tan shouted at the Angel and I sighed, sitting back down on the couch to watch the show. Akeno came a moment later and served me, herself and Marlianna-san a cup of tea, then sat down beside me. Asia was caught in the middle of both women. confused about what should she do, trying to both calm Levia-tan and stop Gabriel from egging her on.

"But then what would I call you?" Gabriel asked. "Calling you from your full name of Serafall Leviathan isn't something you should do to your friends."

"You're not my friend!" Levia-tan shrieked. "You're my rival! My enemy!" Then it seemed like a fire was lit up on the Maou's violet eyes. "I'll bring you down!" She growled.

"This tea tastes delicious, Himejima-dono." Marlianna-san complimented Akeno as if the discussion six feet from her wasn't happening. "Have you been taken lessons from Emiya-dono?"

"Why, thank you, Senri-sama." Akeno bowed to the woman with a smile on her face. "I still have much to learn from Onii-sama in that regard but I'll get there someday."

"Good, good." She nodded knowingly. "A good wi-"

A shriek from Levia-tan cut my attention from the woman and back at the discussion between the Archangel and the Maou. It didn't even had any words in it, just a high pitched yell.

"You really should think about that habit of yours of yelling, Sera-chan." Gabriel was still smiling gently, but with a tinge of concern. "It can't be good for your health."

"You are not good for my health, Angel!" She screamed and I grimaced because it left my ears ringing. Levia-tan for her part was panting after that.

"-then you stir the leaves at exactly seventy five degrees celsius," Akeno was continuing her conversation with the Nekomata as if they didn't even hear the Maou. "not one above or below, otherwise the taste gets too sour or too sweet."

"Hmmm..." The woman nodded. "I see. I see. I'll try next time I have free reign of the kitchen. Souichirou sometimes gets a little too nervous when I enter the kitchen, I don't know why-"

"See, that's what you get for screaming so loudly, Sera-chan." My attention was brought back to other conversation, but my hand was already going to my temple to stave off the headache.

Levia-tan stopped panting and looked directly at the eyes of the Angel. "You are the reason because I'm screaming, you dumb blonde."

"But Sera-chan-" Whatever she was going to say was cut off when the door bell rang yet again.

"I'll go get it!" Asia shouted from where she was, and darted outside, fleeing from the position she found herself in. I almost envied her for being able to do that, while I had to wait here.

"Then I think you should talk to him, ask him to teach you how is the best way to learn." The Shrine Maiden beside me continued the conversation with the Nekomata without paying any heed to the maelstrom that was forming itself on my living room. It was then that I realized that both Ravel and her Pieces along with Margareth, Giselle and Astrid weren't in the house. Had Akeno already called for them already?

"I did try that once, but he denied my request." She shook her head. "Said that it would take his position away or some such." She sighed. "Ahh, how would I like to like is a small house such as this one, with only my kittens and my mate, but no. I'm the Heiress, I have to live in the Main House."

"Is it such a bother?" Akeno asked. "I would imagine that a big house would be-"

"Onii-chan. There's more guests..." Asia was bewildered. I don't blame her, I was too.

"Good evening, Lord Emiya." The Valkyrie that fought with us against Loki appeared behind Asia, then looked at the bickering Levia-tan and Gabriel and frowned. Well, bickering from Levia-tan's part, Gabriel had a innocent smile on her face the whole time. I don't even know at this point if it was real or fake, but I was trying to imagine it was the former, since she would Fall if it wasn't. I think.

"Good evening, erm... I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name." I answered the silver haired woman.

"Rossweisse, Lord Emiya. We haven't been formally introduced, but fought together against Loki." She explained.

"Right, then Rossweisse, could you wait a moment." I asked her, over the two women who hadn't stop their 'conversation'.

"No problem." She nodded then frowned again at the two women.

"So the best temperature to pour isn't boiling then?" Marlianna-san asked Akeno.

"No. That will burn the leaves." The girl answered. "As I said before, the best temperature is-"

"But you let people call you Sera-chan on your show, don't you?" Gabriel was confused while looking up.

"Th-That's- Wait, YOU watch my show?" Levia-tan asked disbelieving. Her eyes widened comically, finger pointed in the direction of the Archangel, and her jaw slackened, gaping at the blonde.

"Let's see, Angel, check. Youkai, check. Devils, check. Valkyrie, check. I'm just a Fallen away from-" I didn't even finish my sentence and the door bell rang again and I hung my head.

"I'll go get it, Onii-chan." Asia again scurried away through the front door, while Rossweisse moved past Levia-tan who had been stock still since the moment Gabriel had mentioned that she watched her show. Shidou was doing her best impression of a life sized statue of herself, Nirlianna and Lirnianna were trying and failing to not watch the ruckus beside them with curiosity.

"If it's a Fallen, then I'll lock myself inside the Panic Room." I muttered to myself.

At this point I tuned out the conversations going around me, just waiting Asia to come back with whoever had appeared this time. However who appeared first from the hallway coming from the dorm was Ravel. "Lord Emiya." She then did a double take at the sheer presence of the people in the room.

I waved at her nonchalantly. "Hey, came to join the party?"

She looked wide eyed at everyone, only Rossweisse beside myself seemed to realize that they had another newcomer. "The... The girls want to know if they are required to attend the meeting with Yasaka-sama, as well. The ones in my Peerage, I mean."

I frowned. "You know, I have no idea." I looked at Marlianna-san to see if she got the hint or not, but she was in a heated discussion with Akeno. I sighed, then looked back at Ravel. "Tell them that if they want to come, they should prepare their baggage to stay at least a day. I have no idea how much time we'll spend there. You can come too, if you want."

"Onii-chan." Asia again from the doorway. If I see a black feather behind her I'll run away screaming.

To my surprise it was a young man with brown hair, somewhat lithe figure, wearing a white shirt, jeans and a headphone in his neck. He also was carrying a shoulder bag. All in all, he seemed like the typical university student.

I made a move with my hand to Rossweisse. "Please take a sit. Whatever you want to talk will take a while before you get your turn." Then I moved to the foyer and got to the young man. "Good evening. What can I help you?"

The guy looked me up and down, then reached on his bag. "Good evening, Emiya Shirou. I'm Hermes, Son of Zeus, messenger of Olympus. I came to deliver a message at the behest of Artemis and Apollo. Both want to talk with you, and clarify some things that happened recently."

I blinked at him, and he handed me a scroll. I looked at it, then back at the boy. "What?"

"I'm just the messenger. I don't know the contents of the message." He put both hands in a surrender position in front of him. "The scroll has a summon ritual attached." He looked at the rest of the house, or better saying the ruckus coming from the living room. "Dyonisius would love the place. Though he would say there's not enough wine. Anyway, since I can see that you are occupied, I'll not take more of your time. Have a good night."

He turned heel and got out of the house without waiting for me to even say goodbye. His presence simply disappeared from my senses, and if it wasn't for the scroll in my hand I would think that I was seeing things. I continued to stare dumbly at the door, then looked at the rolled up scroll on my hand. What does Artemis and Apollo want with me?

The answer came in a flash. Tauropolos. I used Atalanta's bow during the fight against Loki. "By the Root, what else will happen?" I muttered to myself.

The door bell rang one more time, and I didn't even move. Asia too didn't for a moment as we stared at each other, then she nodded to herself. "Right, let me get it, Onii-chan."

A minute later a bespectacled woman with black eyes and long flowing black hair appeared on the doorway. When I felt her power I didn't even greet her, just turned to the wall and started banging my head on it.

On the fifth time I did that, I realized that the house was oddly silent. I almost thought that I had perforated my eardrums somehow. Turns out that was not the case. Everyone was looking directly at me, even Shidou and Ravel, who for some reason was still in the room. "Right, sorry." Then I turned to the newcomer. "Good evening."

"Good... evening?" The woman answered me confused. She didn't seem to know what to make of my reaction, but rallied herself enough to get past that. "I'm Penemue, Chief Secretary of the Grigori. I came to-"

"Pene-chan!" Gabriel jumped over me somehow and tackled the newcomer. "It's been forever!"

"Onee-sama?!" The Fallen squeaked out.

"It's Pene-chan! Pene-chan!" The Angel began to rub her face on Penemue's head.

I looked at both of them rolling on the ground for a moment and sighed, coming back into the room.

I sat down on the one seater couch at the head of the table, then turned to Akeno. "Can you please make some tea for everyone?" Then I looked at the hallway that connected with the dorm. "If anyone else appears, I'll have to move this to the lobby of the dorm."

"Certainly, Onii-sama." The girl answered me with a bit of an edge to her voice and got up from her place.

"Shidou, can you bring Gabriel back inside, please?" Then I turned to Asia. "And tell... Penemue, was it? For her to enter and sit as well."

It took some doing, but there were five women sitting on both my couches, Marlianna-san, Gabriel and Penemue on my left, Levia-tan and Rossweisse on my right. Shidou and the two Nekomatas stood behind their respective charges. Ravel had taken that time to flee back to the dorm.

"Okay. Now," I looked at Asia. "if anyone else appear on the gate, give my phone number and send them away. There's too much happening at the same time here, and I already am having quite the day, considering that I woke up an hour ago." I sighed. "Okay, by order then. Marlianna-san, did you wanted to talk about anything else, or its just the summons to talk with Yasaka-sama and-or Amaterasu-sama?" Rossweisse and Penemue pulled sharp breaths at the mention of the names.

"No." The Nekomata shook her head. "I'm just waiting for you. I don't want to have to force you to come with me, Emiya-dono."

"Okay. Then... Gabriel. You had a message from Michael, right?" I asked the blonde Angel.

"Right." She smiled brightly, made a gesture with her left hand and a scroll appeared in front of her. But when she was about to open the scroll, she paused, looking at everyone in the room. "Hmmm... Are you sure you want to receive the message now?"

"How worse can my day get? Wait. Stop. Don't answer that." I looked up and shouted to the air. "You hear that Fate, I'm not making it a challenge. Please. Let this be the end."

The others looked at me bewildered. Akeno who was coming back from the kitchen behind me began to giggle. When no other supernatural creature appeared to crawl out of the woodwork I nodded to myself.

"Okay. Continue, Gabriel. I don't care if they hear or not." I said to the woman, who was still confused by my reaction.

"I'm sorry, Emiya Shirou, but I have to ask." She said, tilting her head. "What was that?"

"In less than an hour that I have been awake I already received visits from other pantheons, summons by Youkai, plus whatever you, Rossweisse, Penemue and Levia-tan came to talk, so forgive me for being a little on edge right now." Then I muttered. "Seriously, how did you all know that I just woke up?"

"If you're certain..." She nodded to herself and opened the scroll. "To Emiya Shirou. We received the request about the other Owners and Partners from you but unfortunately we can't pinpoint their positions because the system was not designed to be that way. We know when a Part was awakened and when it was sent to and from the cycle of Reincarnation, but can't correlate them directly about where they are at any given time. The system was designed for the last Partner to receive all the necessary information to be able to locate all the other Owners. Something must have gone wrong when you were chosen to be the last Partner and did not receive the information. My apologies but I cannot help you with anything more than this. From Michael."

As usual, the woman read the whole message without taking a single breath. It still amazes me, but the contents of the message is the problem. So they can't help me finding the other Owners, even though they were supposedly calling to each other. Even with all that information that was dumped into my head I still have no idea how I'll proceed. Should I hire a private investigator? Or cash in a favor with the Maous?

"Thanks, Gabriel." I said to the Angel as I took the scroll she was offering me. "Was that all?"

"Actually, no. I've been instructed by Michael to help you locate the other Owners and to bring them together. If you could provide me with a list of names or characteristics of the individuals, I could send them to the Church Officials and ask them to start an investigation immediately." The woman smiled brightly.

"I see. So Heaven can't help but humans can?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Heaven can't keep track of the Souls once they are already on the human realm, unless we keep watching them all the time, which wouldn't be conducive for our other duties. Unfortunately, we are heavily understaffed." The woman said without any hint of bitterness, just stating a fact.

I frowned anyway. "I see. Well, I'll see what I can do."

"Sure!" She smiled again at me then dropped the bomb. "So, where I'll be sleeping?"

If there was background music going on, I think I would hear the needle scratch on the surface of the vinyl. "Sorry. Care to repeat that again?"

"Where I'll be staying?" She asked again innocently and I began to feel a glacial aura from behind me, where Akeno had positioned herself since earlier.

"If you don't mind staying in the dorm with the rest of the girls..." I said almost reflexively.

"I'll help prepare her room, Shirou." Akeno said, pulling my attention back to her.

I half turned to the Shrine Maiden and she had that look that hid the three popped veins on the back of her head. "Sure then..."

"Great!" The Archangel didn't even seem to notice our little interplay.

I sighed and then turned to the others, willing myself to enter denial about the situation with the brunette. "Now, who was next? I lost track."

"Me!" Levia-tan jumped from her seat. "Me! Me! Me!"

"Yeah, okay. Go ahead." I waved my hand defeated.

She faked a cough on her hand and pulled a scroll out of nowhere the same way Gabriel had done. I raised an eyebrow at that. That wasn't her usual M.O. "To Emiya Shirou. It came to our knowledge that you used powers that were supposed to have other owners in other pantheons during your defense of our world from Loki's attack. We request your presence on the Underworld at your convenience to explain the events that happened during the day of the signing of the Peace Treaty with the Norse Pantheon and for debriefing about the same events. From: Sirzechs Lucifer, Ajuka Beelzebub, Serafall Leviathan and Falbium Asmodeus."

I looked at her until she rolled again the scroll, but contrary to Gabriel, she didn't hand it to me. I cocked my head to the side. "You just recited that from memory, right? There wasn't a single word in that scroll, right?" She blushed but didn't answer. "Right, forget it. When I arrange some time..." Then I looked at Marlianna-san. "If I survive the night and arrange some time I'll ask Shitori, Ravel or Rias to contact one of you guys. Anything else?"

"Yes." She said and her whole persona changed, albeit still on the magical girl costume. She was somber and serious. "Thank you for helping my sister during her time in the battlefield. If it wasn't for you, we don't know what would have happened during the attack."

I sighed. "You give her too little credit. Even if I wasn't there, they would be able to survive through. Loki..." I eyed Rossweisse for a moment before continuing. "Loki wasn't that strong to begin with."

"Even then, according to the debriefings, the timely use of your spells was the key to the victory achieved during the battle, so again, I thank you, Emiya Shirou." She bowed to me, before sitting down again.

"Alright, alright." I sighed. So now I have summons by the Youkai, Greek Gods, the Maous. Thank the Root that should be only a few more days of school. Wait. Why am I going to school again? That place seems to be a hotspot for all kinds of shenanigans in this world. Must be the leyline nexus there or something in the air. Even with all the Devils there, it's the only other reason I can think of. If I continue to attend I'll mess up things even more in this world. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes. Ajuka told me that you should contact him within the week to make sure the Seal wasn't deteriorating and to answer a few questions so that he could either correct it or reinforce it."

"Seal? What Seal?" I asked bewildered.

"The Seal you have on you." She answered then cocked her head. "You didn't know?"

"No. I have no idea what you are talking about."

"I'm not sure of the specifics, only that there was a Seal on you that was leaking and he along with Azazel and Uriel managed to create a stopgap."

I took a deep breath. Okay, there's a Seal on me, but what does it do? Seal has the prerogative of sealing something, but what? No, not necessarily. I looked at the back of my hand. Could it be that they detected the Command Seals from the Grail War and thought that they were something that was necessary for me? But she qualified as leaking something, so the first assumption that it was holding something back was more likely correct. But holding what?

"Shirou?" Akeno's voice brought me out of my thoughts. I took another deep breath.

"It's nothing." Another thing for me to puzzle out later. "Anything else?" I asked, looking at the Maou.

"No. That was all." She shook her head.

"Well, alright." I sat back on the couch. "Would you like to stay for dinner?" I asked her just to be polite, but her her stomach gurgled. She blushed, clamped up and didn't answer or moved.

I sighed and was about to move on when Akeno asked. "Shirou. Want me to start the preparations?"

"Hmmm... Sure." I nodded at the girl.

"What's on the menu for today, then?" My own stomach gurgled just at the thought of food and I felt my face get warm. Why am I still hungry after stuffing myself full with the meal the girls prepared me?

"You know... I have no idea." Let's see I have a Nekomata, a Maou, an Angel, plus a Valkyrie and a Fallen if those two will stay too, aside from the escorts...

It happened the moment I was scanning them trying to think of a main dish that would appease all their palates. The Valkyrie pulled a hammer from out of nowhere and then I froze. It was Mjölnir. Thor's Hammer. Different than the one I knew too. No. It wasn't the original. It was a copy. Different from the ones I had in my Marble.

I had more than one in my marble? How?

Oh, right. Something to do with the memories.

Anyway, it was a copy. But it had history. It had already been used in combat several times. Against beasts and frost giants, against elves and evil gods, against dragons and other mythological creatures. It had seen the battlefield in the hands of warriors that Odin deemed that the hammer would be necessary to be used against. It was used mainly to seal away enemies that weren't supposed to be killed, just imprisoned, but it has all the other properties the original has, albeit in a lesser scale. Its massive weight needs a similar strength to be able to be wielded and it was balanced so it could be used as both a melee weapon or thrown weapon with equal-

A hand covered my eyes and the analysis of the hammer ceased. "Put that thing away." I heard Akeno's harsh voice through the haze my mind was going. I hadn't consciously disabled my Structural Analysis since I woke up. Furthermore, that was a Divine Weapon and I shouldn't even be able to analyze the thing. I couldn't analyze Sacred Gears, why could I do it with Divine Weapons?

Oh, right. Again, something to do with the memories. Damn, I need to talk to Ajuka fast. Both Shitori and Rias as soon as possible too. Better yet, I need to talk to Rin.

"What happened with Lord Emiya?" Rossweisse's voice. Concerned. Did I do something during the analysis?

"Nothing." Akeno answered. "It's just that he can't help but analyze the properties of any weapon he sees. It's something he can't control. Any weapon that isn't a bladed weapon takes time to be analyzed and in the state he's in right now..."

"State?" The Valkyrie again. "Is this about his behavior after the battle?"

"Something like that but not exactly it." I answered, pulling a hand to my head to stave off the migraine that was forming. "Anyway, is the hammer out of view now?"

"Yes, Shirou. She already hid it away again." Akeno said removing her hand from my face and I opened my eyes to see the other occupants of the room looking at me with wide eyes.

"Can I ask you why did you pull Mjölnir out in the middle of my living room?" I eyed the Valkyrie with a little more forcefulness than I intended.

She seemed sheepish as she answered. "I thought it would expedite the conversation, since you seem to have other concerns at the moment. My apologies."

I slumped. "Okay. We already saw it, now what does it mean?"

"Well, for services rendered to Asgard, Odin offers for you to take a place in our Pantheon, in the now vacant seat that Loki's demise has opened up." She said something so outrageous as if she was talking about the weather. "Mjölnir would be yours if you accepted that offer, along with this copy. Lord Thor has said that he's willing part with it, as long as Mjölnir deems you worthy of wielding it and you win against him in single combat."

I kept gaping at the woman for quite some time after that and only stopped when someone, Akeno probably, slapped me in the back of the head. And even then all that it came out was "What?"

"Lord Odin offers you to take the place Loki's demise opened up in-" She began to repeat the same sentence, worded differently, so I cut her off.

"Is that old man out of his mind? Or is he going senile?" I couldn't reboot my brain enough to be respectful with the leader of the Norse Gods. And to think I was kind of looking forward to meet him...

Rossweisse visibly deflated with my shout. "Well... He did say that you could keep this copy even if you denied the request..."

"I don't want it. By Zelretch's fake beard, why is every single Pantheon I come across in this world full of lunatics?" I asked to no one in particular, then turned to Marlianna-san. "Please, tell me that Amaterasu isn't like this too. If she offers me a place on Takamagahara I swear I'll find a way to the Root and begin trying different branches." The woman didn't answer me. She was just as taken aback by the sudden proposal as I was. Then I shook my head, turning back to the Valkyrie. "Tell me, if I already denied wanting to be a Devil, and an Angel, why does he think I would want to become a Norse God? Heck, I don't even know the Norse Mythology all that well, even more in this world."

"Shirou..." Akeno put a hand on my shoulder and only then I realized what I had blurted out. It could be misconstrued as several things, but it could also tell them that I wasn't from this world, so I reigned in my temper and took a deep breath.

"Thanks. I'm alright now, Akeno. What were we talking again, before we were sidetracked?" I asked the Shrine Maiden. "Oh, right. The menu." I frowned again.

"Nevermind. I'll think of something." She said smiling at me, before turning to Asia who was still on the limit in between the foyer and the living room. "Asia-chan, can you help me?"

"Humm... S-Sure." The blonde stuttered, before coasting the room and going after Akeno.

I looked at both of them for a moment longer. "Okay." Then I turned back to the Valkyrie. "So... Was that all?"

"Actually, no." She said and then knelt down in front of me, bowing her head. "Even if you have no ties with Asgard, Lord Odin deemed that you should receive protection from Valhalla against Loki's followers." She produced a scroll from the ether like the rest. "Although he was an Evil God, he still had worshipers, so some of them might target you. Lord Odin sent this for you to create a mark that will call upon the help of Asgard in case there's an attack on your person."

Again, I could only gape at the woman. What's with this whole day? I mean, I'm getting clobbered over the head with all these pantheon hijinks out of nowhere and no one told me how in the name of the Root they all knew that I had woken up.

It took until Marlianna-san copied Akeno and slapped me in the back of the head for me to be able to say anything. "Okay... I..." I sighed and sat back on the couch, rubbing both hands over my face. What she said was true too. I would be targeted if Loki had worshipers. Problem was... I wasn't planning in staying in this world much longer, and if they knew much about me they could target my friends when they couldn't find me. "Get up, and by the Root, stop calling me Lord Emiya. Shirou is just fine. Now sit down and I'll continue with you later."

She nodded and went back to her seat. "As you wish, Lord Shirou." She sat again and I again had to rub my eyes with the way she complied without complying.

"Alright, now your turn... Penemue, right?" The Fallen had been surprisingly accommodating so far, without saying anything. That was actually worrying. I don't trust Fallen as a rule. None of them have been shown to be trustworthy enough for me. Her just being here this whole time was a big concession on my part.

Before she could say anything we heard a high pitched scream from the hallway that connects to the dorm. I was on my feet a second later, but before I could run in that direction a trenchcoated woman barreled through and looked at me wide eyed for a second before narrowing her eyes. "You!"

I almost jumped to the conclusion that this was my Rin, from my world, but the woman was stopped a moment later by her sister with a hand on her shoulder. "Nee-sama. He has guests."

The woman's bloodshot eyes turned to the people on the living room for a moment, scanning their faces, before turning to me. "You- You- You- You really are a bane of women everywhere!" And she wrenched herself away from the hand on her shoulder and jumped at me. "Killing you now will solve all my problems!"

I swated her hands away from me and in the next second I was holding her in a full nelson. My mind caught up with my actions only after I was already holding the woman. "What-"

"Shirou." Akeno's voice came from somewhere on my back.

"Emiya-san, I'm sorry about this." Sakura-san said and only then I realized. How in the world were they inside the perimeter without my alarms blaring?

"Let me go you two bit womanizer!" The woman screamed. "I'll not let you do the same thing again!"

"Nee-sama." Sakura-san's voice was more forcefull now. "These people are not what you think they are."

That made the woman in my arms freeze. "What do you mean, Sakura?"

The woman turned to the people present. "Good evening. I'm Tohsaka Sakura, Guardian of the Heiress of the Tohsaka Family, Seventh Seat of the Grauzauberer."

A flick of recognition came over the women's faces, then Akeno came to my ear and whispered. "They are part of the things I need to talk to you about."

Great. More shenanigans. Rin-san stopped struggling. "Let me go." She ordered with the same authoritarian voice I heard from her the first time she came into this house. I did as asked and she turned to me for a moment, before looking at the others present. "Tohsaka Rin, Heiress of the Tohsaka Family, Seventh Seat of the Grauzauberer." Then she turned to Sakura-san. "Are they all Devils too?"

The woman shook her head. "No. Only three of them are." She said, before looking at me. "I'm sorry Emiya-san, but it appears that we came at a bad time. We'll come again at a later date."

I could only nod. Grauzauberer? What in the Root was that? "A-Alright..." I stammered, watching the two nod and say their goodbyes to the others in the room, before they left the house entirely.

What just happened?

I heard someone clear their throat then looked at the Fallen Angel still sitting on the couch and sighed. Right, there's still her to hear from. But now I need to talk to Akeno about the two women too. I walked back to the couch and sat down while both Akeno and Asia went back to the kitchen. "Okay, your turn."

"Thank you, Sir Emiya." She nodded and I cringed. Can these people be a little less formal? "One of Azazel's last requests before he resigned from his position as the Head of the Grigori was for Shemhazai to introduce himself to you, seen as you are one of the major forces inside Kuoh Town." She looked at the others in the room. "Unfortunately, Shemhazai was occupied all this time, and couldn't come, so it was decided that I would come alone."

"Since when I'm one of the forces of Kuoh?" I asked disbelieving. Seriously, the way this day is going I'll have an aneurysm... That Avalon will heal in short order. Damn it.

"To be honest I was doubtful of his claims myself, but I have to recant that sentiment." She again passed her eyes meaningfully over all the other representatives in the room. "It seems that you really do hold power here, so we of the Grigori, look forward to form a working relationship with you in the future." She adjusted her glasses in a way eerily similar to Shitori. "We also would like to offer you a position of consultant on the Grigori, but as you already stated that you don't want to take places on none of the other Factions, I'll abstain of talking more about it. Another item on my agenda was to talk to you about your Sacred Gear, if you don't mind exposing it to the people present."

I looked at her, furrowing my brows. "I don't have a Sacred Gear." At least, not... Well, Azazel thought that Avalon was something similar to a Sacred Gear...

"It came to our knowledge that you had one in fact." She said without flinching. "Something similar to the lost Avalon."

I put both hands on my face and rubbed hard. "Look, I already had this conversation with Azazel directly. If he didn't pass the information to you guys, then let me be the most clear I can be." I removed my hands from my face and stared down the Fallen. "I don't care what he thinks it is, I already said that my... what was that he called again? Artificial Sacred Gear...? Right, that. No, it's not. It's something intrinsic to my craft and no one will experiment with it. End of discussion."

Whatever she saw on my face made her gulp and I could feel the rest of the room tense up. "No. It wasn't my intention. I'm sorry if I gave offense."

"Then what?" I asked her, sitting back again on the couch, from where I had got halfway up to loom over the Fallen.

"I apologize again." She adjusted her glasses again. "Its not that we wanted to experiment with it. We just wanted to study your-" I punched the center table and cut her off, while glaring at the Fallen female.

I took a deep breath to get my nerves under control then asked. "Are all the Fallen Angels like this?"

The woman looked at me quizzically from my non-sequitur. "Like what, Sir Emiya?"

"Don't listen to other people when they say 'No' until they receive three feet of steel in their gut." I answered her. "Study in this case requires experiment, which I already said that I would not submit myself to. So, if you don't have anything else to say..."

"As a matter of fact, yes, there is something that we would like your help with." She switched gears again and pulled a bundle of papers from her briefcase. "You claim to be a freelancer and Bounty Hunter, correct?" I just nodded, signaling for her to continue. "The Grigori would like to hire your services to retrieve an allotment of Artificial Sacred Gears that were stolen from one of our development facilities. Several of them were used during the attack to the site of the Peace Conference, but not all of them are accounted for. After investigating, we discovered some disturbing issues." She handed me a bundle of papers. "If you're interested, here's the briefing on the items stolen and their location."

I was about to reach for the papers, but stopped. "If you know their location, why can't you retrieve them?"

"Unfortunately, the Peace Treaty is still somewhat new, even if our leaders had been working on them for years. Some splinters groups in every one of our Factions still exist." She put the papers on the center table and I noticed peripherally that Levia-tan grimaced and Gabriel looked downhearted at that statement. "In this case, it was a group of Exorcists from the Church, that weren't excommunicated yet because they are seen as one of their most condecorated groups, the Knights Templar."

I heard Shidou hitch a breath and I immediately looked at her. Her eyes were wide with shock and disbelief. I think only the fact that Gabriel was sitting beside the Fallen was holding her back from saying anything. "The Knights Templar... huh..." In my universe, the Knights Templar were an order that was disbanded on the fourteenth century. Several weapons of my Marble were used during their most famous engagement, the Crusades, but there were others, including the Siege of Ascalon and the Battle of Marj Ayyun where they were defeated by Saladin in a rout.

"As such, we don't want to endanger the Peace Treaty with this so it was decided to hire an unaffiliated party to retrieve them for us, since going through the proper channels would take too much time and who knows what they'll do with them in the meantime. Everything you need to know about them is on this dossier." She slid the bundle to me. "If you do decide to accept our offer, you can contact either me or Azazel on Kuoh Academy and talk numbers with either of us."

I nodded at her, taking the bundle of papers and leafing through it. It was highly detailed, with satellite photos, maps, escape routes, sniping positions, timetables on their movements. It must have taken them time to get everything together. I closed the dossier again and put on the table. "Can I ask all of you a question now?" I asked rhetorically. "How did all of you knew I would be awake now?"

"Humm... I... didn't..." Levia-tan said, lifting her hand meekly. "I only came because Ajuka came to my office and said that I had to come immediately."

"It was informed to us during the debriefing after the fight with Loki on the Underworld." Rossweisse said. "Apparently there was a geas placed on you that would alert all the four leaders present when you woke up. I assumed the others knew about it too."

Gabriel and Penemue nodded, but Levia-tan looked sheepish. I turned to Marlianna-san but she didn't even bat an eye. "I came as soon as the girls contacted me." That still didn't explain how Hermes had come too, so I'll chalk that one to coincidence. I sighed, then looked back at the Fallen.

"Anything else?" She shook her head. "Very well, I'll read about this later." I said getting up, then turned to the Valkyrie. "That scroll... How does that work?"

"I need to prepare the ritual to imprint the mark on you, but that will take a few hours." She explained and I hung my head. Should I even bother?

"Look, if that's what is needed for that lunatic of a God to get out of my hair..." I turned to Marlianna-san then back to the Valkyrie. "But as you can see I have other prior commitments that can't be delayed, so if you could wait until I come back..."

She nodded. "Of course, no problem."

"Very well, then if you all could wait here for a moment, I need to make dinner." I turned my back when she began to sputter something, but I was already gone from the room without hearing what she had to say and walked inside the kitchen where, unsurprisingly, both Asia and Akeno had been eavesdropping. They tried to make it seem like they were cutting vegetables, but it was clear that the counter was too clean for them to be doing anything in it for more time than the few seconds that it took for them to rush from the door to it.

I sighed in frustration as soon as I entered the kitchen, turned a corner and knocked my head against the wall. I must have spent almost thirty seconds in that position, before turning and sliding down, with my back to the wall, hanging my head. The whole slew requests and offers I received today would be enough to give me pause in a normal day, but today I had just woken up and still hadn't even the time to process what had happened that day.

Just the thought of that brought back the memories of the feelings I felt during that time. I... I was nothing. Just an automaton. My life didn't matter, the world didn't matter. Only the people I had classified internally as under my protection and the enemies. That sensation... It was like someone was reaching inside my gut and twisting my heart in every direction. The feeling brought tears to my eyes and they began to flow down my face. I only realized that they were there, when I felt Asia hugging my head. "Onii-chan... What happened?"

I smiled at the floor. Right. I still have to be strong for her. I can't break down now. I still have much work to do. I pulled a deep breath, then smiled at the blonde, pulling her into an one armed hug. "Nothing. Just... Today it has been too much... Nothing that your older brother can't handle, okay?" I kissed the top of her head and mussed her hair with one hand while drying my tears with the other hand.

"Onii-chan..." It was clear that she didn't believe in me for a second, but I would not let her keep thinking about it.

"Don't worry, okay?" I pulled a deep breath. "Some kitchen time will do me wonders." I smiled at her again. "Can I ask you to keep our guests company?" When she was about to say something, I just patted her head again. "Please?"

She looked at me, trying to think something to say, but when nothing came to her she nodded and began to walk in the direction of the dining room and from there to the living room.

I turned to the counter where Akeno was still cutting vegetables. I walked to her and embraced her with an arm through the waist and the other through the shoulders, mimicking the position she liked to be, just reversed, with my face on the crook of her neck. She squeaked at the contact. "Just let me be like this for a moment." Our situation was still in thin ice, what with the Part and the Dream Cycle and everything that's happening in between, but right now I need this. I still don't understand why I feel so at peace when I'm near the brunette, but I am not ashamed to use it. Maybe because I saw who she really was on her memories? Either way, I really need this right now. "This day... It hasn't been even two hours since I woke up, and I'm already drained... It just keeps getting more and more..." I didn't know how to actually finish that sentence, so I lapsed into a silence.

She didn't answer anything, just put a hand over the arm it was holding over her waist, and leaning her head over mine. It was nice to feel her like that, and I think I can understand why she does so often. It's like it clears the head of all the worries of my mind, my whole body feel lighter as if the burden of the whole situation is just an afterthought. I don't know how long we stood like that before I heard a high pitched yell coming from the living room. Probably Levia-tan and Gabriel again. I almost didn't want to move, but I had to. I sighed heavily and pulled my head away from her, releasing her from the embrace. I was about to turn when she simply pulled my arm to her again and hugged me tightly.

"Leave it to me. Finish up here for us. After dinner we continue these conversations." She said, and I felt grateful to her, but I still had to deal with a bipolar Maou who was discussing with an Archangel being accompanied by a Nekomata, a Fallen and a Valkyrie. I have no idea where, but there's got to be a joke in there somewhere. Probably a dirty one too.

"I can't. I have to-" She put a finger on my lips, smiling tenderly.

"After dinner, alright?" Her eyes were filled with sympathy, but her words were resolute, so I gave up.

"...alright." I answered after taking a deep breath. She pulled me into another hug then gave me a small brush on the lips with hers, before letting go, moving to the living room, and to the ruckus Levia-tan was raising. I turned back to the vegetables on the cutting board, then looked at the pantry.

Yeah. Some brainless task like this would be good right about now.

* * *

It was a weird sight for anyone who wasn't used to the situation on my dinner table. We had bought a bigger table to be able to sit with guests when they came to have a meal with us, back when Karlamine, Mihae, Xuelan and Marion were still living with us in the main house, and thankfully it was enough for all my guests to sit this time around, even if the space was a little overcrowded. Instead of the usual three, there were eleven now.

At least they enjoyed the food, so that was something for me to feel good about. I always enjoyed when others liked the food I cooked, and the compliments, even if undeserving, were nice to receive. Cooking was my way to relieve stress, and since I had prepared a full course meal, I was more centered right now.

After dinner, they still sat and chatted like women are won't to do, even if they are supernaturals of some species or other, apparently. Shidou had called me aside, and I was thankful for the distraction because I couldn't even follow most of the conversations going on. They weren't talking with me directly, just between them... Well, in case of Levia-tan and Gabriel, not so much talking and more like barbs being launched from one side and flying over the head of the other. Gabriel spent most of her time with Penemue, actually. Marlianna-san, Akeno and, surprisingly, Rossweisse made an odd combination that somehow maintained a conversation in between them. About what, I have no idea.

Shidou wanted to know if I would accept the offer to go after the Knight Templars who had stolen the Artificial Sacred Gears. Another concept that still gave me pause. As far as I knew, Sacred Gears had souls inside them, and that was what gave them power. What was used on the Artificial ones? Penemue had said that everything I would need to know was on the dossier, so I was hoping that was one of the questions that would be answered then. I had said to the Reincarnated Angel that I would first read it and then decide, to which she simply stated that if I was going after them, she wanted to go with me. I didn't promise her anything, but I have a feeling that if I decide to accept the job, she would find someway to barge in and go with me anyway.

At the moment, I was sitting on the oddly silent living room, waiting for the girls to finish their preparations. Asia and Akeno wouldn't be going, since they weren't part of the branch family, but all the other girls would, Ravel included. I don't know why the Phenex Heir wanted to accompany us, even after I invited her. I mean, she could be going just to maintain appearances since most of, or more like all of, her Peerage would go with me.

Marlianna-san had gone to the totem in the yard to prepare the mass teleportation and was just waiting for us to come. I had no idea what I would see once we got there, so I just kept replaying the recent events in my mind. I almost attacked Ise that day. Thinking about it, the pervert had always looked up to me for some reason. Even when we weren't exactly friends, he always had some degree of respect for me. I always assumed it was because I was an upperclassman, but after interacting with the boy, he still held me to a higher regard, even if I consider him one of my few friends here in this world.

Saji too seemed to have gotten over his initial distrust, even if he isn't as friendly as Ise, he seems to respect me more these days. After Kusaka and Meguri explained themselves to me, they too became more friendly with me. Or better saying, they returned to the way they treated me before the whole problem with the rumors had made them distance themselves. Shinra and Reya seemed to have gone in the other direction though. Not exactly distrusting, but distancing themselves. I couldn't understand exactly why. I don't know if maybe if it was because of the rumors too or if it was something I did, so I would need to have a talk with them.

Koneko had been more open with her whims around me, often times she appeared out of nowhere with some kind of candy, or just left them on my shoelocker. When she comes to eat breakfast too, sometimes she only moves from her place after I pat her head and ask her to. I'd like to think that its something I did, but its hard to tell with the normally taciturn Nekomata.

Quarta and Kiba hadn't changed much, except for Quarta's being more respectful of me, ever since she discovered that I wasn't just all talk and had the skills to back it up. Our sparring sessions had become something of she trying again and again to get one over me. Kiba said that he would introduce his Swords Master when we were on the Underworld, but with the whole incident with Loki, we didn't had the chance.

"We're ready, Shirou-sama." Margareth appeared on the doorway, a backpack over her shoulders. Looking closely, not all of them were carrying backpacks, but the ones who had were all bulging.

I raised an eyebrow. "Guess the draw?"

She looked down, embarrassed. "Scrabble." Then she added with a small voice. "I lost."

"Oh, okay then." I smiled at the girl, then looked behind her. "You can't win all of them, right?" Looking at the others I could see that Karlamine, Carlota and Tomoko also had apparently lost, from the ones I could see. "Where's the others?" Only Ravel's Peerage was here along with the three from my group, not the rest of the girls from the dorm.

"They are still on the Underworld, Shirou." Akeno said from behind me. "Rias and Kaichou decided to have a joint training exercise over there and kept their Peerages with them, except for me and Asia-chan." Then she sighed. "Though now that you are awake we have to go back too."

"Oh..." I sighed. "I see." I felt a twinge of disappointment, but I couldn't say anything against it. After all, the Youth Devil's Tournament was just around the corner. In two weeks if I'm not mistaken... actually less than that, since I have spent three days basically comatose. Ravel wouldn't participate this year because she still didn't meet the age requirement.

I sighed again, then said. "Well, lets get going then."

"Have a safe trip." I heard Akeno's voice from the doorway to the kitchen.

"I'll be right back." She preferred that I didn't act any different with her when there was company, so I just smiled at her. "Akeno, could you tell Rias and Shitori that I want to talk with them as soon as they get back? Or before, if I go to the Underworld before you guys return."

She cocked her head to the side, confused, but nodded anyway. "Sure."

I smiled at her and then went to the yard, where a massive teleportation circle, that occupied every inch of available space was waiting for us. I turned to the Valkyrie who had been watching the proceedings so far. "Please, wait in the house until I get back. If there's anything else you need, just ask Akeno, alright?"

"But, Lord Emiya-"

"Shirou." I said to her, then turned to the Shrine Maiden. "Akeno, can you show her my workshop so she can prepare whatever it is that she has to prepare?" I turned back to the Valkyrie when she was about to object again and put my hand up. "It's the only place in the house that I allow these kinds of things to be done."

She was ready to say something else, but then nodded. "Very well. I'll prepare everything." The woman said, standing at attention. I had to sigh at that. This one was way too strict, or at least presented herself that way for me.

I looked down again at the prana circle, trying to understand the runes on them, but couldn't actually recognize any of them. "Is everything in order, Emiya-dono?" Marlianna-san asked and forced me to tear my eyes from my observations and to her.

I did one last check over the girls and the nodded at the Nekomata. There wasn't even an Aria or a Chant or anything. One second we were on my yard, the next we were inside what I could only describe as a Japanese Castle's yard from the Meiji Restoration era. It looked like time had stopped and I was standing on the old Imperial Capital itself.

And it was a place of power. The leyline nexus on Kuoh Academy had nothing on the leylines here. It felt like I was standing on pure raw prana instead of ground. It took me a moment to regain my senses, since the sweet smell of pure raw mana was overpowering everything, and I could barely make out the scent of Ravel who was standing two feet from me. After inhaling normally, I finally managed to regain my balance and began to watch just exactly where we were. In front of a gate big enough for a jetliner to pass through be it with its wings horizontally or vertically. The gate itself had engravings of golden flowers that reminded of the sun and was painted a sunset red.

"Right this way, please." Marlianna-san said, and walked to the middle of the gate were two... Fallen Angels? Actually, going by the fact that we were in Youkai Central, these were probably Tengu, and the masks over their heads weren't masks at all, just their faces. "I'm Senri Marlianna, Heir apparent of Hokuriku's Senri Clan and this is Emiya Shirou-dono, Head of the Emiya branch family of the Senri Clan. We've been requested for an audience with Yasaka-sama." She presented a scroll to them and the man on the right received it, pulled back and unrolled.

The Tengu on the left, during all this, kept his hand on the pommel of the sword he had on his waist, eyeing all the newcomers, but when Marlianna mentioned me, he kept his eyes on me the rest of the time. At set intervals I saw him readjust his grip on the sword, but his muscles weren't tensing to draw it. I frowned inwardly at that. What was he doing?

It came to me when I felt a power source move directly to our left. It had been synchronized with the movements of his hand, so I could only assume that these two weren't the only guards at the gate. There were more guards hidden and that Tengu was giving them silent cues. I had to admit, it was a clever way to keep the person it was your main focus on yourself and at the same time move your allies into a more advantageous position. I did teach about hand signs to the Peerages that trained with me, but the way he was doing it was way more subtle than mine.

I was brought out of my reverie when I heard the first winged man say. "Very well, it's all in order. Welcome to the Palace, Senri-dono, Emiya-dono." He didn't make any move himself aside from bowing to us, but the gates opened inwardly behind him. And just like that my respect for the security of this place was shattered. A gate so unwieldy like that wouldn't be able to be closed quickly enough in case of an attack.

"Thank you." The woman bowed to them and turned to me, nodding, before setting a foot inside the palace. And once I crossed the Boundary of the gate I had to reassess once again. The Boundary Field had almost a physical presence to it, making me feel like I had entered water instead of just taken a step forward. The raw prana in air was so sweet that I felt like that if it was physical and not mystical, I would suffer from cavities in short order. The Nekomata must have realized my predicament, when I hitched in my step, because she began to explain. "Yasaka-sama regulates the leyline in Inner Kyoto in order to not have it run rampant on the human world. If not for her, we would have several cataclysms happening outside, and Inner Kyoto itself would be destroyed in less than a day."

"I see." I grimaced. A woman capable of control this much raw prana must be on a whole other level.

Once we reached another massive chamber inside the palace two Kitsunes with five tails appeared, literally, in a cloud of smoke, wearing a loose red yukata over their voluptuous bodies. "Senri-dono, Emiya-dono." They bowed to us. "If you could accompany us. Your entourage will have to wait here in the meantime."

"Of course." Marlianna-san turned to her daughters and nodded, both of whom nodded back and took three steps back before bowing. I looked from Margareth to Sophie to Ravel and nodded too.

Another puff of smoke and another Kitsune appeared. "Please, come with me to the antechamber." She said to the girls.

The two who had appeared in front of me and the Nekomata turned on their heels and walked to another doorway. Marlianna-san fell into step just behind, so I continued with them. We walked through a hallway lined with white pillars with bindweeds carved into them, each pillar with a torch that lit up the way between the pillars but cast a gloom so dark behind them that it was hard to decide if there was even a wall there or was just darkness. It felt eerily like I was in a bridge instead of a corridor.

It took about five minutes of walking in that monstruous hallway, but we reached another massive double door, that had another two Tengu guarding it. Though these two didn't even blink, as they slid to the sides and put a hand each on the doorway and opened them for us to cross. To my surprise though, the other three simply stepped aside and ushered me inside the room. I looked at Marlianna-san for a moment, but she only bowed again and then stood there.

"Through here, Emiya-dono." One of the Kitsune said, stepping aside and continued to practically throw me inside the room without actually laying a finger on me.

When I entered the room the double door was closed behind me and what greeted me was something ethereal and at the same time not. I say something, because no way I'll call that a woman-err, female. The room itself seemed too dim for the brightness she exuded, that only accentuated the gold of the fur on the nine tails she had behind her, sitting in a throne of gold and ebony on top of a raised dais, smiling pleasantly yet at the same time knowingly. "We greet you, Emiya-dono. I'm Tamamo Yasaka, Leader of Kyoto Youkai Faction and Avatar of Amaterasu-sama." She got up from her seat, folded both hands together and made a half bow, somehow showing more cleavage through her red and gold yukata. I think I said before that I was inured to beautiful people in this world, but this one is pushing it.

I looked at her for another second dumbfounded. "Greetings, Tamamo-sama. I..." I bowed to her, then straightened and shook my head. "I'll be honest. I suck at all these pleasantries and protocols, so can we get right to the subject at hand."

She eyed me with something different in her eyes for a moment, before her smile turned more natural, different from the regal one she had been sporting until that moment. "Of course. To be honest with you, I too am not too fond of these, but they make a good show for the ones who expect it." She nodded to herself and moved from her throne and began to walk down the steps of the dais. "Since you wish it so, I'll be blunt with you. Amaterasu-sama wants to speak directly with the person who somehow managed to call on her powers without making contract with her, worse, through a Regalia that not even my ancestor had received full control over."

Finally someone who didn't beat around the bush. Though that could be a problem since generally people who didn't do that were trying to kill me. "And how will I speak with Amaterasu-sama?"

The woman just smiled and closed her eyes. Out of nowhere I could feel her whole presence change, instead of the powerful yet recognizable Kitsune that had been talking with me, I could feel as if the sun itself had descended from the sky and had condensed in her body, such was the brightness that her form began to exude, her scent overpowering even the sweetness of mana inside the castle, with things that I could hardly describe. It was like feeling the purification of fire without being burned and the cleansing of water without drowning, both at the same time.

Then she opened her eyes again, and I felt like she was trying to grasp my Soul with just those golden orbs. It sent me on edge and at the same time set me at ease. I wanted to shout out loud and pray silently. I wanted to cry and laugh. I wanted to run and stay still. Be sad and happy. Be strong and weak. It was a jumble of conflicting emotions just for being looked at by that presence that I couldn't actually understand myself, and ended up shutting down everything and entered battle mode.

"Amaterasu-sama, I presume." My voice was colder than I expected it to sound.

"That is Us." Her voice back to regal, but now had more depth to it, as if there were several tones of the same voice talking at the same time. "Emiya Shirou, Son of Our Land, We Greet You."

"It's a pleasure." I answered, my body primed to move. If to flee or to attack, I have no idea. I was just ready. "As I said to Tamamo-hime, I'm not someone who knows pleasantries and protocol and, so far, every God I came across had their own quirks, and I'm sure you too have them, so could we finish this fast, before you have time to shatter my image of yourself."

The Goddess seemed to be entertained by my bluntness. I wasn't kidding. I didn't want to start thinking differently from the Shinto Goddess of the Sun. "Yes. We Admire Your Directness, Emiya Shirou." She smiled and I think that if there was a Dead Apostle in the room he would turn to ash with just that. Assuming it survived her opening her eyes. "Very Well. Three Cycles Of The Sun Ago, We Received A Request To Use Our Power From Someone We Had No Contract With. What Puzzles Us Was That You Managed To Use Our Power Even Without We Granting You That Boon. Care To Explain Yourself?"

"No." I said bluntly. "I didn't use your power, only a copy of a Regalia, that wasn't yours either."

She narrowed her eyes. "Care To Show Me That Regalia Then?"

I sighed. Great, I'll have to start already lying to a Goddess. "I don't think that would be a good idea." I said, shaking my head. "The Regalia I used was a gift from another Amaterasu to Tamamo-no-Mae on another world. I have no idea how it will react being in the presence of another Amaterasu."

Her eyes narrowed further. "Another Amaterasu?"

"Right, sorry." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I'm not from this world, Amaterasu-sama." I answered her truthfully. I have no idea why. I fully intended to lie and bullshit her. "I don't know how it'll react to your presence."

"We Understand." She nodded. "If Its For Our Safety You Fear, There Is No Need." She opened her arms as if to embrace the whole space we were in. "We Are Not Here Physically."

"Yes, but Tamamo-hime is." I frowned at the goddess. "It will be her who'll receive the full brunt of whatever is going to happen."

Her smile widened. "We See That Our Acessment Of Your Will Was Not Faulty. But As We Said, There Is No Need."

My frown deepened. "Alright." I turned my back to her and walked three steps, before turning again. Then closed my eyes. I put a hand forward and projected the Yata-no-Kagami, or the Eighfold Blessing of Amaterasu, the mirror used by Tamamo-no-Mae, one of the three Regalias of the Japanese Imperial Family, together with Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi and Yasakani-no-Magatama. After I finished the projection it began to hover between us.

Amaterasu's smile disappeared as she eyed the projection with a clinical eye. "That Is Not The Real Mirror."

"No. As I said, it's just a copy." I agreed with the Goddess. "But I can access all its properties."

"Even Properties That Should Have Been Sealed When We Conceded It As A Boon To The Tamamo Matriarch?" She asked.

"Yes. Those are harder to access, but with enough willpower its possible." I answered while looking at the hovering mirror that continued its lazily float around me.

"So That Was How You Stole A Soul From Izanami-No-Mikoto?" The way she said it didn't sit down well with me, so I met her eyes evenly.

"Stole? No. Pulled it back from the Yomi-no-Kuni, the land of the dead? Yes." I answered her, then sighed, letting the tension on my shoulders disappear. "You have to understand that when I did that, I was completely out of my mind. To be honest, I shouldn't even be able to use a Divine Weapon, much less a Regalia that isn't even that, even if Tamamo-no-Mae used it as such." Then another thing struck me. "Also... How does that even work? I mean, Akeno is a Devil. How in the name of the Root of the world did Izanami-no-Mikoto had any claim on her Soul?"

"It Does Not Matter What She Is Right Now. Her Soul Was Ours From The Moment She Was Created From Our Design. The Denizens Of The Underworld Have No Claim On It. Once She Is Taken From The World Of The Living She Is Destined To Be Sent To The Care Of Izanami-No-Mikoto Before Her Soul Is Sent To Be Cleansed. No One Should Be Able To Interfere. And Yet You Did. Both Retrieved A Soul From The Yomi-No-Kuni And Has The Regalia. Or A Copy Of It." She began to scrutinize me. "Yet, I See No Ill Will On Your Character." I didn't know what to make of that. "But There Is Something Different About That Regalia, Aside From The Fact That It Is A Copy. I Can Feel It As Mine, But Also Not."

"That's because it isn't. I already said that was a gift from another Amaterasu from another world." I said and she raised an eyebrow. "Can I dismiss it now? It takes a lot out of me to keep it active, even here." I finally managed to tell a lie. What the hell? What's the criteria here? One thing I'm sure though as that if I was a Shinto follower I would be sent directly to Yomi-no-kuni. It was surprisingly easy to maintain the Projection of the Divine Artifact. When she didn't made any mention in either way, I dismissed it. "As I was saying. It isn't your Mirror, its from your counterpart from where I'm from."

"Where You Are From?" She raised an eyebrow. "Your Hair And Eyes May Be Odd, But You Are A Son Of Our Land." That made me pause, and I raised an eyebrow. Is Amaterasu, the Goddess of the Sun, cracking a joke with me?

I gave her a crooked smile anyway. "Yeah. I am, just not from _this_ Land." I answered. Why isn't the Goddess hearing what I'm saying? I had already told her that, so in for a penny in for a pound. I decided to be truthful with her for now. "I'm from another world, Amaterasu-sama. Anyway, I came here after an accident that I'm not entirely sure how it happened yet."

She continued to scrutinize me for some time until she nodded. "So In The Other Land You Had Contact With Another Of Us Who Conceded You That Boon?"

"Not... Exactly." I faltered. "Part of my craft grants me the ability to copy a range of weaponry and other artifacts that I wouldn't come across otherwise."

Again her eyes narrowed and flared red. "How Many Weapons? What Do You Intend To Do With Them?"

"How many is something I have no idea. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands." I felt her power flare once but she didn't say anything. "As for what I intend to do with them... Protect me, mine and the innocents, not necessarily in that order. More like backwards, actually."

Her eyes went back to the normal tinge of gold, though still narrowed. "You Do Not Intend To Conquer Others With That Many Weapons?"

I smiled ruefully, showing her my hands. "I have only these. What good does it make me having that many weapons, if all I have to use them are these?"

Her eyes turned to my hands for a moment, then back at my face. "We Know That You Can Call Weapons Without Needing To Touch Them, But We See That Your Reasoning Still Stands. One Person Is Nothing Without An Army. Which Brings Us To The Other Topic That We Would Like To Discuss." I felt a wave of power wash over me and I couldn't discern what it meant to do, but it didn't seem harmful, so I stayed quiet.

Her eyes widened minutely, before she settled again in a impassive mask. That made me frown.

"We See That You Are Also Shielded Against Even Our Power To Scrutinize Your Mind."

I almost called Kanshou and Bakuya reflexively at the end of her sentence. "What do you mean?"

"Few Sons Of Our Land Are Even Able To Talk With Us For Such A Long Time Without Succumbing To Our Presence." She nodded. "You Are Indeed Special, Emiya Shirou. Though There Is Something You Should Know. You Are A Son Of Our Land, Stolen From Us Young, Returned An Adult, But Still A Son Of Ours."

My eyes narrowed. "Be specific please, because I'm getting confused here."

Her smile came back. "Your Soul Belongs To Us, Emiya Shirou. You Were Designed For Greatness In This World, But Was Stolen From Our Land. Stolen From Your Bid To A Rightful Place In Takamagahara."

"What?!" I asked dumbfounded. "I'm human! Not a Kami."

"No. Most Certainly Not." Her smile didn't fade. "You Were Designed For Greatness. You Were Born From Our Design, Given Life Through Our Wish, And Would Live Through Our Trials, Until It Came The Time That You Would Lead Our People."

"Wait, wait wait." I said, bewildered, slipping out of battle mode. "I just said I'm not a Kami, not even a drop of blood of mine is from-"

"All Children Of This Land Is Ours, Emiya Shirou. And All Of Them Have A Great Destiny." Amaterasu expression turned motherly at that, then saddened. "Unfortunately, Most Of Them Don't Live Through The Trials And Give Up Halfway And Even More Don't Even Begin Their Trials." Then her smile came back. "But We Had High Hopes For You, And Now That You Are Back, We Can Be Relieved To Know That Even Out Of Our Reach You Managed To Arrive At The End Of Your Trial."

I gaped while watching the goddess. "End of what now? Wait, stop. Time out. I'm not from this world!"

"You Obtained The Right To Use The First Regalia." She said, ignoring me completely. "Even If It Was Not By Our Hand That You Received Such Fortune, You Are A Blessed Of Amaterasu All The Same, As Such, We Grant You The Right To Use The Eightfold Blessings Of Amaterasu On The Weight Stone Under The Sunlit Watery Heaven." She made a motion with her hand and another mirror appeared out of nowhere and began to float down from the center of the room and hover around me. It looked almost like the same mirror I traced. "We Expect Great Things From You From Now On, Emiya Shirou. One Day You Will Claim Your Rightful Place On Takamagahara."

Before I could process what just happened, the presence of the Goddess disappeared, the Yata-no-Kagami still hovering around me, when the woman in front of me, still with her eyes closed brought my attention back to her. "Whatever Amaterasu-sama said was for you and you onl-EEEEK!" The shriek happened when she opened her eyes and looked at the mirror floating around me. It was loud enough that a second later the room flooded with Tengu from everywhere, carrying spears, five kitsune appeared in a cloud of smoke in front of Tamamo-hime, each wielding a metal tessen fanned out in a protective position in front of their leader, eyes scanning the whole room for danger.

I remained completely still in the middle of the room, Yata-no-Kagami still hovering around me. "Did they not hear the conversation we just had or they are that good at faking it?" I asked the woman with a raised eyebrow. I knew this wasn't Amaterasu anymore, but it was the best way deflect their questions to the nine tailed Kitsune and, hopefully, explain to me the reason of her shriek.

The woman kept watching the mirror, then looked at me blankly, then back at the mirror. Then my instincts told me to sidestep quickly. I did just that, a moment before a gold furred bullet fell from the ceiling on the exact position where I had been. "Leave Okaa-sama alone, you brute!" I grabbed it by the scruff of the yukata as it passed through and held it at arm lenght. The bundle of fur also had nine tails, so I looked at the woman still being defended by the other Kitsune.

"I take it this is yours?" The room tensed even more, because the situation now seemed to be that I had a hostage.

"Kunou! What are you doing here?" The woman forgot that there were five other Kitsune in front of her and tried to barrel through them. The Tengu around were all primed for action, but didn't actually attack.

"Unhand me, you beast!" Funny, a Youkai calling a human a beast. I almost smiled at that.

"So you are Kunou-hime, huh?" I said to the girl, letting her down on the ground. She turned to me, with her cheeks puffed. Now that I could see her face, I could see the resemblance. She was like a miniature version of Tamamo-hime. I crouched to be at her eye level and began to pat her head. "You shouldn't attack a person without reason, you know?"

She meant to bat my hand away, but I dodged it and continued patting her. "You were harming Okaa-sama."

I raised an eyebrow, then looked at adult nine tailed fox. "Did I attack you, Tamamo-hime?"

She was almost barreling me at this point, but the mirror kept her two steps away. She looked at me bewildered for a moment, then at Kunou then at the mirror and blinked. Only then she realized that there was what was probably all her personal guard was inside the room. "Uh- N-No. Y-You didn't." She traced the mirror with her eyes making its trip around me bobbing up and down lazily. At this point some of the Tengu too were looking at the mirror with wide eyes.

"Then could you tell this little bundle of energy that she shouldn't attack just about anyone?" I smiled at the little girl who was still trying to bat my hand away instead of actually stepping away. Maybe because I began to scratch behind her ears and her attempts to bat away my hand were become more and more half hearted.

The woman finally seemed to come back to herself. "Kunou!" The girl jumped in place and began to turn slowly to her mother. "What are you doing here? It's past your bedtime!" As fast as her legs allowed her to, she dashed and hid behind me. I chuckled and got up, trying to edge her from there to the front but she grabbed my left leg and hid her face there. "Kunou!" The woman was getting histeric.

"That was our fault, Yasaka-sama!" A female Tengu entered the room accompanied by another Kitsune. "We lost track of Kunou-hime when we were preparing her bed."

I looked at the cowering little kitsune on my leg then at the woman, then at her babysitters then crouched again, making her let go of me and turned to her. "Kunou-hime, you shouldn't do that. If you want something you should say that clearly, otherwise you'll get in trouble." I said smiling at the girl and again scratching behind her ear. "What one has to say when they do something wrong?"

"I'm sorry." It was what her voice said, but her eyes were glazed over, as if she didn't even care about the rest of the world. "I'll not do it again."

"Good." I said, mussing her head then picking her up. "Now, go with your caretakers because I still have to talk with your mother, okay?"

"...okay." She was almost sleeping already on my arms. I took two steps in the direction of the Tengu and Kitsune combo, but had to stop, because the mirror accompanied my movement.

"Oh, right." I put the almost sleeping girl on the floor, patting her again until she was breathing evenly, then took three steps back. "Here, take her."

The two looked at me with wide eyes, then to their charge, then to my back, presumably to Tamamo-hime, then went and picked the little girl up. I sighed and turned back to the Leader of the Youkai Faction who seemed to have defaulted to keep looking at me dumbstruck.

"Now," I took one step forward and had to hastily take one back again, lest the mirror hit the kitsunes that were protecting her. "Sorry."

"No..." She answered automatically, jaw still agape. "It's... It's okay." I looked from her to the other Kitsunes then to the Tengus who at this point had stopped posing with their spears to attack and were just holding them. "Oh, right." She coughed once on her hand. "I'm sorry for my unbecoming display." Then she looked at the others in the room. "There's no need for this. I was just surprised by something Amaterasu-sama had done. No need for you all to be worried." She looked at one specific point in the room, probably the leader of the Tengu, but I didn't turn to confirm it. All at once I heard several wings flapping and the Youkai disappeared into the ceiling. Either they have a perch up there, or there's some entrance for them.

The kitsunes kept watching me for a moment more, before turning to Tamamo-hime, bowing and disappearing in a puff of smoke again. I looked at the empty room again then turned to the red faced woman. "So... You were saying?"

She had the decency of looking embarrassed at least. "Again, I'm sorry for my display." Then she eyed the mirror again. "Did... No. What Amaterasu-sama does is not to be questioned. You received a great treasure. Congratulations."

"Yeeaaah... About that..." I said scratching my cheek. "Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but..." I looked at it as it passed in front of me. "Do you know how do I make it stop doing that?"

She blinked, then chuckled. "If Amaterasu-sama gave you, its yours, part of your body, like a arm, a leg or a tail. You just have to control it as you would any other limb."

"Greeeeeaaat. Thanks for the explanation..." Not. I never had three arms or legs. Or a tail for that matter. Still, I closed my eyes and concentrated on it, willing it to stop in front of me then to come closer. I finally took it in my hands and decided to look at the mirror more closely. Without realizing I began to analyse the Regalia and immediately started reeling because of it.

This was worse than Mjölnir because this was the original, not a copy. The Eight Hand Mirror, representing wisdom and honesty. It was forged by Ishikoridome, and left on a cave to lure Amaterasu out of it, then was given, along with Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, to Ningi-no-Mikoto, Amaterasu's grandson. Both Sword and Mirror were used to pacify Japan in a age were mirrors were rare and considered Divine Blessings. It was granted to Tamamo-no-Mae during the period the Kitsune had been living on the Imperial Palace but after she was killed by the Army it was retrieved and locked inside the Palace. Its container was burned in a fire, but the Mirror itself was discovered amidst the debris completely unscathed. After that, Amaterasu gave the Imperial Family a replica of the three Regalia and reclaimed them back to Takamagahara and they have been by her side ever since.

But the revelation that came as the most shocking was the fact that this was the exact same mirror I projected. It was identical. This meant that the Tamamo-no-Mae from whom the Yata-no-Kagami in my Marble came from was this world.

"Emiya-dono?" The analysis ended when Tamamo-hime called me, with a voice that made it seem like she had been doing that for quite some time.

"Sorry." I said, lifting a hand to my temple to stave off the headache. "This usually only happens with bladed weapons, not... Regalias." I frowned. If this is going to happen everytime I see a Divine Artifact I'll be in trouble because I'll need to counsciously keep my Analysis disabled. "Still, thank you, Tamamo-hime."

"No, thank you, Emiya-dono. And please, call me Yasaka. Tamamo was our Matriarch." She gave me a hearty laugh. "It feels weird to be called that even though I'm the head of the Clan." The woman bowed deeply to me. "Also, I had never seen Yata-no-Kagami myself, and to have the opportunity to gaze at it is quite enough for me."

"Er... No problem? You also can call me Shirou." I said, sounding both sheepish and confused. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Or with the copy of Mjölnir. Or with the Brave Saint Deck. Or with the set of Evil Pieces after the girls are released. All these supernatural Factions are trying to cull favor with me and keep forcing these artifacts on me like they are going out of style.

"Still, I would ask you-" Whatever she was going to say was cut off, as the group of Tengu reappeared on the room again and the Kitsunes again teleported in a puff of smoke.

"We have problems, Yasaka-sama!" A Tengu dressed differently from the others appeared. "Inner Kyoto is under attack." I hung my head. I'm a trouble magnet, aren't I? Seriously. What other explanation would it have for this to happen at the same time that I'm here.

"How are the people outside the palace?" The Kitsune asked, already back at her regal attitude and trying to take control of the situation.

"They are being evacuated as we speak, but there's a Dragon with the invaders. They must have help from inside. There's a barrier blocking all outbound communications and we can't contact any of the other Clans." The Tengu said.

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Someone from our side?"

"I'm affraid so, Yasaka-sama." The Tengu said, and I felt like they were accusing me without saying anything, so I scowled.

"Tamamo-hime." I called out loud, addressing her with the same name I had before, just because of the unspoken accusation, my voice harsh along with it. "Does the palace has defenses that can whitstand a Dragon attack?"

She was taken aback by my tone of voice, but nodded. "Y-Yes. The walls are sturdy and the Fields would whitstand an attack from Yamata-no-Orochi itself." The pride on her voice was clear.

"Then use all your forces to evacuate your people to the Palace, but not the inner areas, only the yards." I said, my switch already flipped into battle mode again. "This attack can be only a diversion for someone to infiltrate the Palace, but even then it can create enough damage on the populace that you can't ignore it."

She nodded at my assessment so far. "What do you intend to do, Emiya-dono." I noticed that she too didn't address me with my name as I said, but at the moment I didn't care.

I tapped the mirror. "Let's see if the Blessing of Amaterasu isn't just for show." I looked at the Tengu who had been talking until now. "I need wings, the fastest one you have."

He didn't answer me, just looked at nine tailed fox. "Give him your fastest people as escorts, then-"

I cut her off. "Get my family on the gateways, tell them I said 'School Siege, Priority Defend Non-Combatants'. They'll understand what they have to do." Having said that I began to run in the direction of the doorway, but I didn't make three steps, before I was scooped up below the arms by two Tengu who began to carry me to the ceiling then through a passage and out the palace throuhg the roof. Once outside, even in the gloominess, I could see the lines of flame a freaking dragon left every time it used its breath attack. "Get me as close as you can, then leave the grounds and start evacuating the non-combatants."

I swear that I almost heard these Tengu say "Yes, sir." I'll chalk that one up to my mind being in overdrive. They took me directly above a Shrine at the top of a hill then dropped me in its grounds. Then moved to obey the orders I just gave them. The Dragon was down below the torii lined staircase, at the street level, and there were several Tengu and Nue fighting it. I think I saw an Oni or two in there too, before a swipe of the Dragon's wing sent them flying out of my field of vision. I let go of the Mirror and it began to hover around me again.

I thought that I was close to it, but I kept running and running and it kept getting bigger and bigger. When I got to the last torii of the staircase of the Shrine I jumped atop it and analysed the battlefield. The Dragon was attacking alone, and, contrary to Niðhöggr, this one didn't seem one for banter. Either that or it subscribed to the same vein of thought as me, every breath wasted on talking should be wasted with attacking the enemy.

I didn't wait anymore. If Amaterasu wants me to use the Regalia, then I'll use it.

"God who resides in Izumo." I began to chant as I closed my eyes. "Aesthetically certain, Breath of the soul." I kept hearing the sounds of the battle in front of me, so the Dragon must still be there. "Residing in the mountains and watery heavens, Amaterasu." I finally felt a pull from the Mirror. Until now it was acting without me doing anything. Eight ofuda talismans formed in my hand and I threw them up. "Let this freely become the proof of purification." I felt the talismans began to encircle me, as the Mirror began to spin above my head. "Thy name is Weighted Stone of Tamamo." I opened my eyes and the Dragon must have felt the sudden shift in the mana, because it looked directly at me. "Become the sacred treasure, Mirror of Uka!" I finished the chant as the talismans all surrounding me shot outwards, encircling the whole battlefield with projections of several torii but didn't actually did any damage to anyone.

The Dragon opened its jaws and a gout of fire came directly at me and I called. "Svalinn!" The Shield that defended the world against the sun appeared in front of me and I realized with some shock and not at the same time that it didn't consumed any of my Od to form it. The flame kept hitting on the shield but nothing passed through it. As soon as the flame stopped, I traced Archer's Bow and this world's version of Dáinsleaf. Again, not a single trickle of my Od was spent.

I altered the sword into an arrow and began to charge it.

"Freeze the Underworld with your bared fangs, Icicle Death." I chanted and the prana explosion around the arrow was something I wasn't expecting. Last time I used, I only altered it, and didn't charge it. When the Dragon opened its maw again in my direction I fired.

I had to gape at the power of my own attack. The arrow shot through the Dragon's mouth, then exploded into icicles from inside it, freezing even the flames that would be shot out in its throat, perforating it in so many ice spikes that that someone who hadn't seen it would be hard pressed to discover if the pieces of the dragon were dropped all over the icicle formation or if it really grew from inside the beast.

Then I remembered about the Ophis' Snakes that Niðhöggr had and jumped close to the Dragon, Reinforcing my legs in order to get there faster. It was faint but it was really regenerating, so I traced Drachenloch and stabbed it in the head and yelled for the gaping Youkai all around. "Find the Snakes and destroy them. The Dragon is trying to regenerate because of them." The Youkai only looked dumbly at me so I put as much authority as I could in my voice and shouted. "Now! Go!" And began to follow my own instruction, searching for the Snakes.

It took some time but we managed to do it before the Eighfold Blessing of Amaterasu disappeared and the Mirror began to hover around me once again, and I had to back away from them in order to not hurt the other Youkai in the clearing. I began to walk up the stairs back in the direction of the Shrine, trying to understand what happened. I willed the Mirror to stop again and I looked at it, when nothing came, I closed my eyes, going over the blueprint and the history of the Artifact. Something was not right here. It reduced my prana usage to absolute nothing. I felt like I could have called even several Excaliburs and I wouldn't strain in the slightest. Dáinsleaf too, it charged so fast and so much that it actually startled me a little. Was that the difference between the two Mirrors? No, the blueprint still had other six properties, four of them were already active just by me being recognized as its rightful owner. They-

A explosion happened to my right, cutting my line of thought. I turned in that direction instantly but could only see the smoke billowing into the semi-darkness of the night sky, so I jumped on top of the Shrine to have a better look. I thought for a moment that it was maybe some gas exploding because of the fire from the Dragon, but it turns out I was wrong. There were more fights happening in that direction.

I narrowed my eyes and jumped down from the Shrine, Reinforcing my legs again. It took me a full minute of running full tilt down the hill to realize that I was running faster than I was used to, even with Reinforcement. It was another property of the Mirror, it augmented my physical capabilites, on top of any other type of previous augmentation. It basically meant that without using any Od, I was always reinforcing my body. In that state it took me less than five minutes to reach the skirmish happening in the street, but that was when I hit a snag. It was Youkai against Youkai. Worse, there were Tengu and Kitsune, Nekomata and Oni, Kappa and Nue, all fighting down there in all out brawl. I couldn't pick a side based on their types.

I jumped on a rooftop and started analysing the situation, trying to discover what was going on, until I felt a spell trying to get to me as well, and I turned to the figure that was with its arms open above another rooftop across the street. The figure didn't seem to realize that I had made its position, and was looking at the combat down below. I traced Archer's Bow and Hrunting.

I have no idea who it was, but if attacked me, I would retaliate. I could be wrong, and that could be a Youkai thinking I was one of the attackers, but at the moment it was the best bet I had. The scents were all a jumble and I couldn't make out who was what for a good portion of the fight, but the figure seemed human, and didn't demonstrated any traits of any Youkai I knew, so I decided to risk the attack.

This time I felt the Od draining, but it didn't matter. It was just a trickle, compared to normal. I altered the sword into an arrow and began to pour mana on it. It charged faster than normal too. "Go to the red plains, Scarlet Hound." I chanted and released the arrow. The figure looked in my direction in the last second, raising his arm, but it was too late. Hrunting pierced through their heart, then there was a flash of light and a second later I had to reaccess. Hrunting hadn't pierced through the heart, it had vaporized the entire ribcage of whoever it was.

All at once the Youkai stopped fighting, a few of them still with their swords, spears, tessens and claws poised to strike, but all of them seemed confused. I jumped down to the street level, drawing several startled yelps and more than one of the Youkai tried to attack me, but I just sprung up again to the other rooftop on the other side of the street and looked down at the body. It was a human man. A Magician more likely. A moment later two Tengu floated to the rooftop, and were about to attack me but then stopped in midair when they saw the body.

"Spread the word. There are Magicians with the ability to cloud minds. They may try and infiltrate the palace." Both Youkai kept looking at me dumbly, but I continued. "You." I said pointing to the one on the right. "Go to the palace and inform the Devil girls on the gate. 'Do not trust your eyes'. Say exactly that to them. They'll understand what is happening."

"Who are you?" The Tengu snarled, then retreated back when the Mirror floated in front of me and stood there, as if to shield me.

"Someone Amaterasu sent to help." I answered him and immediately began to look in the distance. There were still skirmishes happening all around, but there should be someone in charge of this attack. There should be a powerful scent somewhere. The Dragon wasn't the only attacker. He was probably the muscle. There should be-

I felt a power flare in the direction of the palace, midway from my position to there. I began to run in as straight a line as the rooftops alowed me. Whoever it was, it was a Devil. Worse, a Pureblood too. Why were Devils attacking the Youkai? No. It wasn't an attack by Devils. There was a Dragon and a human Magician in the midst, so it was probably the Khaos Brigade, or at least someone from the Old Satan Faction with a Pact with a Magician. Would CaoCao use this attack to try and attack as well? Had he somehow got wind that I would be here and decided to come at a time where I wouldn't be prepared?

It took me maybe three minutes to reach the position where the power had flared earlier, but I couldn't find anyone who matched. There were only Youkai injured along the street, some of them seemed to be smashed by a giant hand, others had their appendages ripped off. Most were already dead or dying. I was still looking at the destruction when I heard a high pitched laugh from up ahead.

Immediately I took off again. Jumping down to the street level, running in its direction as soon as my feet touched the ground. I could hear another laugh that could only be described as a derisive way a noblewoman who had poor upbringing would laugh at someone on a lower social standing. I turned a corner and that's when I saw a... I don't know how to describe well. It's main body was of a woman with brown hair tied in a bun, using glasses and had a pair of Devil wings on her back. Her outfit seemed more fit for a stripper than for someone walking outside, though. What unsettled me was the fact that both her arms couldn't be described as such. They were moving as if they didn't have bones in them, extending themselves several feet away from her body, and the fingers on the hands too seemed to extend further still.

"Pitiful. You were supposed to treat the humans as the cattle they are, but you are too happy in indulge in their own measly passtimes." Her voice was screechy, like what I imagine a banshee would sound like. "Let me put you out of your misery." Then I saw one of her 'fingers' wiggle its way in the direction of a terrified Yuki-Onna that was trying to retreat on the corner.

I shot forward, Kanshou and Bakuya flaring to life in my hands. The finger-tentacle-thing had already encircled itself around the terrified Youkai's neck, beginning to constrict, when I got close enough to slice it off. There was an agonizing scream from the side, where the Devil was. It looked at me with narrowed eyes. "What? Who are yo-"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off by another scream when I sliced another of the finger-tentacles that were sneaking around behind me. "Trace. Overedge." I called and began to dance around the vicinity, slicing finger and appendages as soon as I saw them.

"Graaahh..." The Devil screamed. "I know who you are. You are Sirzechs' new pet." She sneered. "Good. You'll die tonight along with-" Again I cut her off when I threw both married swords at her, tracing another pair in my hands. "You lowly cattle!" She snarled at me and jumped away. To my surprise, all the appendages that I had cut began to regenerate. I narrowed my eyes and tried again to feel her scent. It was faint but it was there. Ophis' Snakes. This Devil too had them. Great.

I threw both Kanshou and Bakuya to the sides. Thankfully we were in a open space. "Spirit and technique, flawless and firm." I began chanting and dodged another tentacle-thing. Tracing another pair of the married swords. "Our strength rips the mountains." I rushed in and slashed with both falchions on my hands, while It was preocuppied with deflecting the first pair. I slashed again sideways and the first pair closed on the main body of the Devil from behind, slashing as they passed through its sides. "Our swords split the water." I threw the second set, jumping back and tracing a third pair of Kanshou and Bakuya, and began to pour mana on them. They went from their Overedge form to their Broken form, resembling a pair of light wings. "Our names reach the imperial villa."

I began to race at the Devil, putting both married swords behind me, mimicking wings. "You're just a lowly magician." She sneered at me. "Not even a good one." Her hands retreated to a more normal form and began to gather demonic energy on her hands. "Take this."

Several things happened all at one time. The demonic energy the Devil used against me was reflected by the Yata-no-Kagami who intercepted the attack and sent it right back at the same time I chanted. "The two of us cannot hold heavens together". And jumped, pulling both married swords above my head for a overhead strike. The Devil tried to move but it had been rooted in place by a layer of ice that had formed on the ground, trapping its legs in place. "—Two great men, sharing a life." I finished the chant at the same time as the other four swords I had thrown earlier converged on the Devil and I struck her main body with the swords in my hands.

The effect was momentous to say the least. The demonic energy she had sent my way exploded on her body at the same time the mana gathered on both married sword exploded and the other two pairs too embebbed themselves on her two lungs and both sides of her ribcage. I was thrown back by the sheer power of the explosion and fell in a three point landing, with my left hand and both feet skidding backwards as I traced another Kanshou on my right hand. I eyed the explosion of prana and the raw scream from the Devil, then looked to the side when the brightness was too much.

Once I did that I realized that there were three Yuki-Onna hiden in the corner with their hands on the ground, looking in the direction of the Devil. They must have been the ones who froze the Devil's legs. I waited the sound of the explosion diminish, before addressing them. "Go to the Palace. It's safe there." The seemingly older of the three Youkai looked at me for a moment, before nodding and started to run in that direction while I turned my head to the remains of the Devil. If it was Ophis power I felt earlier on her, I doubt that was enough to kill her.

And I hate to be right in these cases. She was bleeding freely from several slashes all around her body, but still maintained it upright with both mangled arms extended over their normal lenght, as if they were canes. "You-*cough* You dare." Another cough, this time with blood. "I'm the descendant of the Leviathan. I'm the true-"

Whatever she was going to say, I didn't want to hear, so I tuned her out. I don't care what she was, but I doubt I'll be able to kill it without destroying the body completely. Thankfully, I had just received the tool for it. "God who resides in Izumo." I began to chant again. "Aesthetically certain, Breath of the soul." The Devil began to regenerate. "Residing in the mountains and watery heavens, Amaterasu." The Mirror stopped in front of me, but the ofuda talismans didn't appear in my hand this time, instead they formed a circle around me. "Let this freely become the proof of purification." The Mirror began to float up slowly, together with the ofuda. "Thy name is Weighted Stone of Tamamo." The circle of talismans created a pillar of light with the mirror at its center, all around the mirror eight balls of pure prana gathered, when I raised my arm. "Become the blessed force, Scourge of Amaterasu!" I waved my arm down, and the balls of prana shot in sequence in the direction of the Devil.

Each ball created a explosion, until the the mirror itself shot in the direction of the Devil gathering the leftover mana from the earlier explosions and destroying everything in that area. Ten seconds after the explosions ended, the Mirror reappeared floating around me. The last and most powerful ability of this Noble Phantasm, the Scourge of Amaterasu. This ability alone is why this Mirror is considered an Anti-World Noble Phantasm. With time to gather enough Prana, it can destroy a whole continent with black flames that are impossible to be extinguished by normal means. The flames will burn for seven days and seven nights. Worse still, it can be stacked with the fifth hability, Blessing of Amaterasu, which negates the need to gather mana for anything the wielder desires, meaning it can destroy the whole world, being limited only by the time it takes to travel from place to place. This thing is too powerful to simply give away.

Case in point, the Devil vanished from the center of the attack, including the area around it and the crater that it formed in the middle of the street, with black flames at the bottom of it. Some houses were damaged as well, and I can only hope that there were no one inside them. It seemed that the whole of Inner Kyoto came to stop at that point. I couldn't hear anything from anywhere in any direction. No sounds of fighting anywhere, no signs of people fleeing. Nothing.

I almost thought that I had punctured my eardrums again, but that wasn't the case. I could still hear my own steps and the rustle of the wind. I took a deep breath, willing the Mirror to come back to my hand. What was Amaterasu thinking when she gave so many blessings to this thing? Tamamo-no-Mae herself had used it when the last three habilities on it were sealed, and even then she was known for destroying half of the Imperial Capital in a night using it. And the Goddess just handed me this thing completely without those restrictions.

I felt a presence land beside me, and turned. It was the Tengu that was guarding Tamamo-hime a few minutes ago, or hours ago, I don't even know anymore. I spent so much time scrutinizing the Mirror that I could already see the first rays of sunlight appearing on the horizon. "Emiya-dono. Your presence is required in the Palace." I didn't even acknowledged the man, or when two other Tengus caught me by the arms and started flying. I noticed that there were still spots of fire all around the city, people rushing from place to place, a few Kappa trying to put the fires out, other flying Youkai carrying others from the areas where the fight had been more intense, but what struck me the most was the number of bodies strewn about the streets.

Inside five minutes I was being deposited inside the same room I was before, as if nothing had happened. Tamamo-hime wasn't in the room, but the girls from the dorm were. "Shirou-sama." Sophie and Sylvi were the firsts to realize that I was there.

The Tengu was about to leave again when I caught him by the arm. "How are the losses?"

"The Castle and Yasaka-sama are safe. Your family kept the gates protected during the evacuation-" The birdman started to recite and I interrupted him.

"How are the losses inside the city? How many innocents died?" I asked again, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

He was taken aback by the ferociousness on my voice. The girls that were coming closer too narrowed their eyes at the Youkai. "Inner Kyoto is big, and there are still fires running rampant-"

"How many?" I repeated again.

"...we expect the losses to be in the hundreds, maybe a thousand." He finally relented.

A thousand...

I let go of his arm and walked to the nearest pillar. Then punched it hard, without Reinforcing my hands. Even then it shook. The Bestial Sky, the second gift of the Mirror was still active. Actually, I don't even know yet if I can deactivate it. But that was just an afterthought that came to me in a instant and was gone again. The bulk of my mind wasn't on that. It was on the loss of life. I don't care if they are all supposed to be monsters, as long as they didn't do anything against others, they are innocent.

And the innocent are always the ones that suffer during these things. Why its always the people who had nothing to do with the machinations of beings more powerful than them that have to suffer? Why was always them the first to die? This attack didn't take too long, an hour maybe two. Three at most, and even then a thousand will have died because of it. A thousand lives lost without knowing why.

I sighed, sagging my shoulders and lowering my head against the pillar. "I'm going home." I announced and the man was still eyeing me with a mix of awe, curiosity and fear. "Tell Yasaka-hime that if she or Amaterasu-sama want to talk to me again, they know where I live." I was tired and sore, and considering the fact that I haven't been awake for even twelve hours yet, after sleeping for three days, that was quite the accomplishment.

"B-But-" The Tengu tried to rally himself, but I cut him off.

"I'm going home." I glared at him. "Either send me home now, or you will discover what this can do." I showed him the Mirror and he gulped.

"There's no need for you to be so hasty, Shirou-dono." A feminine voice came from behind the throne, seconds before the Kitsune appeared. "We still need to thank you properly for-"

"Yasaka-hime." I cut her off without even care about the possibility of retaliation. "I'm going home. If you want to thank me properly, then send me home. That's all the thanks I need at the moment."

"But-"

"Yasaka-hime." I repeated, my voice tired as I slumped. "This day just keeps getting worse and worse. I just want it to be over." I felt two of the girls pulling me into one armed hugs and another two putting their hands on my shoulders. I don't even know who was doing what.

"Very well." The woman nodded finally. "I'll have to summon you again-"

"No." I cut her yet again. "I've come this time just because I was in error." My face came up to look at the Leader of the Kyoto Youkai Faction. "Next time, if either you or Amaterasu-sama, or any other Kami wants to talk to me, you all know where I live. Now, can you send me home, or will I have to find my way out?"

"But, Shirou-dono..."

"Finding my way out it is, then." I turned to the girls. "Let's go."

"Wait. You win. Please, just wait for us to locate Senri-dono so she can accompany you back." The woman said in the end.

"She's inside the room behind the throne." I told her and her eyes widened. "The same one you just came from." She blushed crimson with my statement. It didn't even had any accusation in it, just stating the fact. "Now, either call her out, or I'm going to find my way out of here, Tamamo-hime." I adressed her the same way I was doing at the beginning, in order for her understand that I was serious. "I'm tired of games."

"O-Of course." Before she could even turn, Marlianna-san came from the room, accompanied by her daughters.

"I told you that hiding from him is impossible, Yasaka-sama." The Nekomata had a small smile on her lips, then turned to me. "I'm sorry to have put you through that, Emiya-dono. We didn't expect this to happen at all." She turned again to the Kitsune. "If you excuse us, Yasaka-sama." The Nekomata began to chant and a massive circle appeared on our feet.

A moment later we were back on my yard and it was almost dawn. I turned to the girls who were carrying backpacks. "Sorry if you thought that we would be spending the night away, but I simply needed to get home. Next time we go somewhere, I promise it'll be overnight, alright?" They didn't protest as much as I thought they would, that is to say, they didn't protest at all. "Marlianna-san, Nirlianna, Lirnianna. I would bid you three good night, but it seems wrong to do in the morning, so have a good day, alright?"

"No problem, Shi-chan~ Nyaa~~" Apparently the regal Marlianna had expired. "I just hope that proposal for an overnight trip includes us as well, nya?"

I had to chuckle at the older Nekomata. "Sure. Why not?"

"Woohoo~~" The three said at the same time and my eyes widened when they barreled me into the wall of the workshop, rubbing their cheeks on my face, bicep and chest. "Nyaa~ Nyaaaa~~"

I looked at the three of them puzzled, before I felt them being picked off of me, as if they were really cats themselves. Marlianna-san by a red eyed Valkyrie no less, while both Nirlianna and Lirnianna were picked by Xuelan and Marion. Rossweisse was clearly hoping for some sleep. I really hope she hadn't spent the night awake preparing for that ritual while we were away.

The three of them were deposited on the ground and the older Youkai turned to me. "Bye, Shi-chan~" And the three disappeared.

I sighed and turned to the girls. "I want reports of your accounts of the events this night by tomorrow... well, I guess it's today... Anyway, I want reports by evening. Any questions?" When none of the girls said anything, I smiled at them. "Don't think I didn't hear that you performed the duties I asked of you in a optimal manner." I began to walk in between them, patting them on their heads. "Congratulations. Everyone deserves a well earned rest."

They began to fill into the house and from there to the dorm, until it was just me and Rossweisse on the yard and she looked at me curiously. "Lord- Shirou. What is that?" She said pointing to the Mirror on my hand. "It feels like..."

"A divine artifact?" I asked and she nodded. "That's because it is." I shook my head, walking in the direction of the house. "I swear. Every single one of them..." Will I not meet a God, or a Maou, or a Kami, or a Divinity that doesn't have its quirks? I'm starting to doubt my sanity here. "Anyway, how were things on the home front?"

"The ritual is prepared but..." The Valkyrie then looked me over and decided to change the subject. "Also, both Miss Akeno and Miss Asia were called away during the course of the night. Miss Akeno said that they would be gone at least until tomorrow... today, actually, morning."

I hitched my step a little but then continued inside the house. Right, Akeno and Asia would need to go back to the Underworld, but I didn't expect them to be called in the middle of the night. It did made me feel a little disapointed.

Today was supposed to be a school day, but... Wait, no. We're in middle of summer vacation... I think. I honestly have no idea which day of the week it is anymore. I sat on my couch and leaned my head back on it, closing my eyes.

I needed to think.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to have left Inner Kyoto without getting answers about the attack, but I just couldn't continue there. It was just another battlefield. Another war that I got in the middle of. Not even here I can be free from them, it seemed. Thinking like that wasn't good, I knew it was the path Archer had walked and I didn't want to go down the same road.

Well, I guess with all that happened I already deviated from him.

Amaterasu gave me the mirror for some reason that I couldn't discern just yet. She simply said that I had obtained the right to use the first Regalia, but didn't actually explain if that meant I had a bid to use the other two or they simply were waiting for their respective owners to finish their trials. Which is making me completely unnerved by what in the hell that would mean. I am having half a mind to simply ignore these politicking between factions and pantheons and just hope it blows over, and not on my face, but thinking about it, that was what I did with the rumors and look at what happened.

And I'm going in circles. I sighed, passing a hand over my face. How did that saying go again? Fix what you can fix first, then try to fix what you can't. What I can do immediately?

Finish whatever Rossweisse's ritual will do. Call those two greek gods. Read the dossier about the stolen Artificial Sacred Gears. And I still haven't received word from Tokiomi-san or Sakura-san about the DNA test too. What am I going to do about that... Maybe that's why they are taking so much time to come back to talk to me? They are redoing the tests... again...

I think the best thing I can do at the moment is try and understand this mirror better, but also... try to catch some sleep. Even if I spent days asleep, this night was draining.

Deciding that as a course of action, I opened my eyes and saw that the Valkyrie was still standing in front of me. I sighed. "Rossweisse, about that ritual..."

"Is already prepared, Lo-... Shirou." The woman stuttered again. "All you have to do is accompany me." Her face tinged pink, but didn't actually change expressions. Odd.

"I see." I let out another sigh. I have been doing that a lot lately. "Will it take too much time?"

"I..." She looked away. "I don't think so."

I raised an eyebrow. "Alright." I got up again. "Let's get this over with." We moved to the workshop, and I did a double take when I looked over the place. "By Zelretch's fake beard. What the hell is this?"

"The ritual was prepared precisely by the specifications instructed to me by Lord Odin." The woman said and I continued to watch gobsmacked at the scene in front of me.

"Rossweisse..." I slapped my face, hard. "Tell me exactly what this... ritual... entails. Don't leave out any of the details."

She looked down and her face apparently invented a new shade of red. "Well, first we have to remove our clothes, then procceed with the exchange of vows that you're going to read before we continue with..." Her blush deepened before she said. "intercourse... then after I receive a sample of your... seed... I chant the ritual to place the mark on you..."

I looked over at what was supposed to be my workshop. At the moment it was more correct to call it a love hotel's room or maybe a nuptial suite. Seriously. The only thing missing on the place is the mirror on the ceiling. There was a queen sized bed with red sheets, candles lit all around, rose petals on the ground and the clear smell of incense. I turned back to the woman. "Tell me. How many times have you performed this... 'ritual'?"

She looked somewhat offended. "Never!" Then realized what she said. "This is a great honor that few others have received in history!"

I looked over the place once again, before once more at her. "So... Who was the last person who received this... honor?"

She looked down. "I don't actually know. According to Lord Odin, this ritual is used very rarely."

I sighed. "Okay... Does it always have to be... performed this way?"

"Well... I don't know." She finally said. "But Odin said that it has to be..."

I put my hand up to stall her while the other pinched the bridge of my nose. I took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. "And are you alright with it?" She looked embarrassed and didn't answer. "Does it need to have some kind of mana exchange?"

She continued embarassed but shook her head. "No. There's no need to."

"Then why...?" My hand made its way to my face again and I sighed. "Look, do you mind if I cut out the rest of the ritual and go directly to the part where you place the mark?"

"But I need some of your..." Her voice grew small when she squeaked out. "semen." Before it returned to the normal pitch. "In order for it to work."

"Why semen?" I asked.

"Because of your mystical signature it has to come from-" I cut her off.

"Can't it be with blood instead?" I asked.

"I don't... think so?" Then she frowned. "I don't... actually know..."

"Do you think that maybe Odin tried to make you do something embarrassing just for shits and giggles?" I couldn't actually say that I thought that damn old coot was pimping the woman out.

"How could you...!" She began to shout indignant, but then stopped a moment and began to think over what I said. "Lord Odin would never..." Then frowned herself. "do something like this..." Then her face flushed something fierce, before her eyes began to water and she began to cry. "Waaahhh... Why!? WHY?!"

I took a step back. Clearly I wasn't wrong in assuming that this girl was naive beyond belief.

"Why, Lord Odin! I did everything you asked of me! Why do you do these things with me!?" She began to wail and I felt bad about the whole situation.

"Look." I tried to calm the valkyrie down. "Let's forget about this whole thing, alright?" She looked at me with a somewhat hopeful expression on her face. "It's not like I need protection in the first place. I mean, I did defeated one of your Gods, right?" I tried to soothe her. "And it's not like I'll even be-" I almost blurted out something that I shouldn't. "Anyway, there's no need alright?"

She looked down for a moment before she looked at me again, her face morphing slowly from the crying one into a more neutral one. "Very well." She tried to say with a hard voice, but it still cracked a little. "I'll inform Odin that you didn't want the ritual."

"Can we stop calling this a ritual?" I asked. "I mean, its clear that you were pranked, and a mean prank at that."

She blushed once more. "Yes." Then she shook her head. "But we still can do the marking if you are interested." She rallied herself, before realizing what she said and added. "With blood! I think it works too... I mean, it should..."

"Alright." I sighed, then an idea hit me. "Look, why don't you turn the joke on him?" I asked her.

"What? How?" She tilted her head to the side.

"He'll probably ask how was the ritual performed and ask for details. You tell him the most sordid tale you can. Get a book at a store and retell it, add your own details, that kind of thing. I'm sure he'll either be on the floor gobsmacked by the time you finish it, laughing his ass off or coming for my head at end of it. But it all comes down in the delivery. Ask Akeno for pointers when she comes back. She's a master of bullshitting people with a straight face."

She began to think about it but I could see that she was conflicted about something. "But to lie to Lord Odin..." Then she looked at the bed and the rest of the workshop and her face began to change from the crestfallen one, then she looked at me smiling at her and little by little her eyes began to lit up with excitement. "I'll do that!"

In the end we finish the damn 'ritual' which consisted of a single rune being placed on the back of my hand using my blood as a catalyst, in the same place where the Command Seals were during the Grail War, but it faded and only appeared when I sent a small trickle of Od to it.

"I see." I heard a voice from the doorway and wanted to curse myself once more. "That's what you are into, Onii-sama?" Akeno's voice betrayed nothing but the chilling aura I felt from behind me was enough for me to realize that I fell into another misunderstanding.

"Ah, Lady Akeno!" Rossweisse on the other hand didn't seem to realize the landmine we were in. I mean, we were both sitting down on the bed with petals and candles all over the workshop. Even my haystack targets were being used to prop up candlesticks. She got up and walked to the door and asked the girl directly. "Lor- I mean, Shirou said that you would be the person to ask... Lady Akeno? What's wrong?" The girl asked and it was only then that I turned to look at the Shrine Maiden.

"It's not what you think!" I yelled then my hand meet my face once more. That's got to be a new record. "Remember what I said about you and Ise!"

The girl was about to bolt out again and I could see that her eyes were lined with unshed tears but that made her change expressions to a confused one for a moment and I capitalized on the moment.

"Rossweisse was tricked into doing something stupid and she did all this" I waved around my hand to show the... desecration... that she did to my workshop. "while I was away."

"Yes." The silver haired concurred. "And L- Shirou said that you could help me get revenge."

The silverhaired Valkyrie began to explain what her revenge entailed to the Shrine Maiden and as the discussion began to get more heated, I saw the glint of impishness beginning to crept on Akeno's face. That was something that made me scared for Odin.

Seriously.

I shivered as the brunette guided the other woman in the direction of the house and I turned back to the inside of the workshop, wincing. This will take a lot of time to clean up. I sighed, getting a broom in the corner.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Properties of the Yata-no-Kagami**

1 - Aphotic Cave  
 **Target:** Anti-Unit (Self) (Always Active)¹  
 **Power:** Auto-Defense (Think Gaara's Sand Shield in Naruto)

2 - Bestial Sky  
 **Target:** Anti-Unit (Self) (Always Active)¹  
 **Power:** Augments Physical Capabilities (Same as a normal Reinforcement but active all the time)

3 - Merciful Sky  
 **Target:** Anti-Unit (Self) (Always Active)¹  
 **Power:** Augments Magical Capabilities (Same as Bestial Sky but for mystic properties)

4 - Breath of the Soul  
 **Target:** Anti-Unit (Self) (Always Active)¹  
 **Power:** Restores Od faster (A few minutes of rest is the same as a full night's sleep)

5 - Land of Eternal Bane  
 **Target:** Anti-Unit  
 **Power:** Inflicts wounds on the enemy on the same magnitude as the user received. Only works if the wounds are life-threatening.

6 - Return of the Soul  
 **Target:** Anti-Unit (Ally)  
 **Power:** Revives an ally as long as it hasn't been more than a minute since death. Can only be used once every thirty days.

7 - Blessing of Amaterasu (Mirror of Uka)  
 **Target:** Anti-Unit (Self)  
 **Power:** Cuts the cost of Od to zero for any skill the user uses during the time is active. Can be used once every six hours.

8 - Scourge of Amaterasu  
 **Target:** Anti-World (Can be scaled down to be Anti-Team)  
 **Power:** When used at full power, it can tear the fabric of reality making whatever was hit with it cease to exist, destroying even the Soul of living beings. When scaled down, it creates a explosion of black flame that burns for seven days and seven nights. Can be used thrice a day scaled down. Once a week at full power.

¹ - Powers designated as 'Always Active' means that they are active the moment the Mirror is called from the Hammerspace that he's in normally.

Six of the names were pulled from Fate/Extra, and their powers based loosely on them. The other two, 'Return of the Soul' and 'Scourge of Amaterasu' are originals.


End file.
